Final Fantasy: The Final Aeon
by Rikku45
Summary: A novelization of Final Fantasy X, told like a high energy fantasy novel, with a few minor adjustments... Please RnR! Chapter Seven is up for your reading pleasure!
1. Sin Rises

_Prologue_

_"Dead for a thousand years..._

_A great terror rose from the deep._

_It swept across the world_

_A long past still lingers._

_Destiny cannot be denied_

_So the burden grows heavier_

_To the kingdom of the sun_

_Across the vast sea_

_To the unknown_

_The journey home begins..."_

_- An Unknown Al Bhed Poem_

_The sun was slowly setting across the forgotten city of the dead. Long forgotten memories floated on irridenscently in the fading light. The moon could already be seen in the opposite end of the sky._

_Stars soon blinked their way into the blackening sky. The stars echoed memories. The city echoed memories. This world echoed memories._

_She stood in the only remaining building standing. The only memory still alive. She was a memory, too, but not a forgotten one, for the lost and frightened prayed to her at their darkest hours._

_She loved their prayers. They were her motivation. They were the sparks that flew inside her mind that kept her dying flame of a soul ablaze. She knew she hadn't been forgotten. She'd never be forgotten._

_And so, for hundreds of years she stood inside the lone building with a seductive, almost evil smile upon her unaged face. She was waiting for the day she could use her powers again. "For the good of the people," everyone said. But it wasn't really that way._

_Waiting, waiting, waiting, sometimes for eternities she waited. She would stand on the battleground, waiting for the loudest prayer. And then she knew that her time had come._

_It was a very long time before she'd heard the prayer, or any prayers for that matter. Not as long as she'd waited ever, but still, it had been quite a while. Little prayers came to her. It was then that she wondered if she finally had been forgotten._

_She was still alive when the Night of Doom killed the city. She was one of the few who awoke that morning knowing that by night, all hope would die._

_But she hadn't been forgotten. People were just too afraid to remember anymore..._

_Listen to their story. For this may be their last chance._

Chapter One

Sin Rises

The Night of Doom was such a seemingly peaceful night. The blush-tinted moon could be seen in the sky, for the day was well over. The city was illuminated with lights, for it was a city that never slept. But no one had any idea what was to befall them.

Hiding the city from the rest of the world was a large snow-capped mountain. Very few dared to pass through it into the world beyond. Very few knew what was happening beyond that silent guardian.

The sky was thick with stars and a limited number of clouds. The waves crashed lazily onto the shoreline, cooled down in the dark of night. The streets were packed, even though it should have been the dead of night. It seemed as if almost everyone in the city was awake and alert, out on the streets celebrating.

This modern city held many secrets. Most of the tall, illuminated skyscrapers were created with the heights of all technology, called by few "machina." Machina was first created for the purposed this city, called Zanarkand, used it for, buildings. Then, people started to use it for their own convienience. Soon, most of the labor that humans once broke their backs doing was done by machina. But forces still unknown to this day were plotting to use machina for other purposes, purposes far greater than anyone could have imagined.

Now, because humans now lived a life of luxury, no work, all play, they needed something to keep their minds and spirits occupied. It was they only thing they had to worry about.

And so, a sport like nothing anyone had ever seen before arose from their stimulation. Blitzball, they called it. It was a rather simple game, two teams fought to get the ball into their own goal, which was guarded by the opponents goalkeeper. It was played in a gigantic sphere of seemingly floating water. In reality, magnetic forces in machina were able to suspend the water in mid-air and hold it in the sphere shape.

The sport became insanely popular. The players became instant celebrities, hounded by adoring fans everywhere they went. From the seperate teams arose strong rivalries. The spectators cheered their hearts out as they filled the stadium stands. Their luxurious lives couldn't get any better.

One certain player was one of the most famous of all. He'd only been playing for a year, but already people compared him to some of the best players ever. A living legend, they called him. His name was Tidus, and he'd lived a long life up until he became a star.

On the Night of Doom, Tidus' team, the Zanarkand Abes, were scheduled to play the Duggles. The Duggles were a team with an equal amount of skill, so Tidus knew it would be a fierce game.

He dressed in the yellow vest, dark blue shorts, and yellow sneakers, which was the team's uniform. Finally, he pulled on a pair of black gloves so he could hold onto the ball easier, and set off to the Zanarkand Dome stadium.

There was a slight chill in the air that rustled through his shaggy blonde hair as he stepped out of his house. But, it felt comforting. He hadn't taken much more than four or five steps when he heard a shriek.

About twenty or so adoring fans had gathered nearby his house. Most were young teenage girls and younger kids aspiring to be blitzers themselves. Three young boys ran up to him, each grinning broadly and holding blitzballs.

"Can you sign this?" One of the boys asked, holding out his blitzball and a pen.

Tidus grabbed the pen and smiled. "No prob!" he said cheerfully, taking the pen and quickly scrawling his signature on the surface of the ball.

"Please?" Another boy asked.

"Alrighty." Tidus said, thinking about how he had been just like them when he was their age.

"Me too!" The final boy chirped up.

"Take it easy." Tidus said with a laugh. He signed the ball with a flourish and handed it back to the kid. Then turned to compare signatures while two teenage girls walked up to him.

"Can I have your autograph?" One of the girls asked flirtatiously.

"Of course!" Tidus said, signing the ball.

"Good luck tonight!" The other girl said quickly, handing him her ball.

Tidus signed the ball, then twirled it on his fingertip before handing it back to her. "Nothing to worry about!" he said confidently. "Oh, and if I score a goal...I'll do this!" He placed both hands in the air with his index fingers raised. "That'll mean it was for you, okay?" The girls giggled. "What seat?" he added

"East block in the front row." the first girl responded

"Fifth from the right." the other one added.

Tidus winked at the girls. "Got it!" he smiled, causing the girls to erupt in a fit of giggles.

He then noticed the crowd growing by the Zanarkand Dome. It was almost game time. "Well, I gotta go." he said to the fans. "Cheer for me!"

"Wait!" One of the young boys called after him. "Can you teach us how to blitz?"

Tidus smiled at the boys. "Hey," he laughed, "I got a game to play."

"Then," another boy replied, "Teach us after!"

Tidus thought for a moment. "Maybe tonight..."

Suddenly he heard a voice that startled him. He looked over his shoulder and saw someone very strange. It was a boy, younger than the boys who were so eager to be taught blitzball, with dark skin and a long purple hood hiding most of his face. "You can't tonight." the boy said, as if Tidus should have known that.

"...Tomorrow, then." Tidus agreed. That was strange. No one else seemed to notice the strange boy.

"Promise?" One of the boys asked, a pleading look in his eye.

"Promise!" Tidus agreed.

The boys stepped back and raised their arms in the air, then swooped them down into a circular shape in front of their chests and bowed. The blitzball sign for victory.

He strolled down the street leading to the stadium. Before long, he could hear the famous commentator, Zanar's, voice echoing throughout the city: "I was in a coffee shop running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone! Vanished into thin air! Oh, my dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar,' I says to myself, 'what're you thinking?' I went running straight back home. We sat up all night just talking about Jecht. My dad and I never talked so much. Woah...didn't mean to reminisce folks!"

Tidus sighed, soaking in what Zanar said. It had been ten years since the greatest blitzer ever, Jecht, his father, vanished. He never showed it, but never really did depress him. He had never liked his father, who was quite in love with himself. He knew he was the best and could brag about it all day long. He knew that no one could ever be better than him. Tidus wondered what he'd do then if he saw his son, who he had told would never be a blitzer, as the star he was. The thought of the anger his father would feel made him smile.

He smiled sadly as he thought of his mother. His mother, she had favored Tidus. She loved him more than anything. Anything but his father. That was the earliest thing that made him hate his father. Whenever his father was around, his mother would ignore him, tell him to go away, to leave his parents alone for a while. He loved his mother and hated that his father would take her away from him.

She fell into a spiral of depression and sadness once Jecht disappeared. She cried all day, sometimes all night, too. A few months after Jecht had been gone a year, his mother just didn't have the will to live any longer. She died shortly after.

But, before his mother had died, they'd met Auron. Tidus scowled as he thought of Auron, because he didn't like him much. He was a mysterious older, raven haired man who just showed up one day. He introduced himself as a friend of Jecht's. But, he never said how he and Jecht knew each other. Every time he saw Auron, from once they had met to the last time he'd seen him, he wore a long, heavy red coat. Even in the hottest of weather. And always a pair of sunglasses. Tidus had noticed a long, thin, red scar over one of his eyes. Maybe that would explain the sunglasses.

Auron always seemed to show up at strange times. Tidus would occasionally see him simply standing atop a building, watching the crowds of people down below. Sometimes he'd see him just slowly saunter down the street. Tidus used to wonder if he was the only one who saw Auron, but then he'd notice people stare at him, with wondering looks upon their faces. He just figured that Auron was just a crazy old man who claimed to know Jecht.

Pushing through another crowd of adoring fans, he made his way towards the sphere pool. He relaxed inside of the water tunnel where the rest of his team were trying to calm themselves nearby, psyching himself up for the big game. He cleared his thoughts of everything but blitzball. 'Come on.' he thought. 'This game isn't any different from the rest.'

He rested his head against the stone wall of the tunnel. Soon, the crowd would begin to cheer, louder and louser, until the arches of machina that held the sphere into form began to resonate their power, causing the knee deep water in that water tunnel and the surrounding others to come flying out and form the floating pool.

Finally, the cheering began. It got louder and louder, until it was all a buzz in his ears. His mind was totally focused. Only memories and knowledge of blitzball surrounded him. Suddenly, Jecht's face appeared in his head! No, not now. He didn't need his father distracting him, breaking his concetration. He tried to shake the vision as the water began to spill out, forming a gigantic ball of energy in the center of the stadium.

The machina's power resonated as the energy ball glowed, then exploded in a blinding flash of light, and the sphere began to fill with water. He walked through the tunnel and stood atop the platform where the captains of each team stood. The crowd cheered and chanted his name. He looked across the way at the captain of the Duggles. Both players nodded to each other, and the game began.

At the moment, a man stood on a platform which stuck out of a tall building and hung over the water. You could see the horizon clearly at that point. The water seemed calm, but suddenly, a wave could be seen in the distance. The wave grew closer, and larger, until you could see that it wasn't really a wave at all, but a sphere of water, much larger than the one that the blitzers were playing in. The sphere flew up from the water, blocking out the moonlight and making the night much darker.

The man smiled softly and reached into his long, heavy red coat and pulled out a small white jug. Raising it toward the sphere, Auron said softly, "Good to see you...once again."

At the blitzball game, no one seemed to be aware of what was going on. Tidus intercepted the ball from one of the Duggles' forewards. He passed it to a teammate, she threw it hard, the Duggles' goalkeeper couldn't stop it, the score was now 1-0. The Duggles' goalkeeper tossed the ball to one of his teammates. Some of the Abes tackled him hard. The force blew him out of the water and into the stands, where he was caught by a gaggle of teenage girls, giggling madly.

Tidus smirked, and saw one of his teammates nod. Time for Tidus' signature shot. He swam forcefully towards the top of the sphere, knowing that the Duggles' were staring after him, confused and bewildered. His teamate tossed the ball forcefully, so it burst out of the sphere pool. Tidus jumped for it, flipping out of the sphere pool, preparing to kick it back in and wow the crowd.

Suddenly, he saw something that caught his attention away from the game. It was a gigantic sphere floating slowly towards the stadium. He wasn't the only one who noticed it. The fans cheers turned to screams and they panicked and tried to flee the stadium. Tidus tried to save himself and grabbed onto one of the machina arches. But he couldn't hold on for very long. The sphere pool collapsed into the stadium, soaking everything below him. With a shout, he fell into the dust of the wrecked building below

He was amazed that he survived the fall. He opened his eyes and was lying in some wreckage outside of the Zanarkand Dome. He was shocked to see buildings falling and being sucked up into the still floating sphere. He stood up and began to run, but somethign stopped him.

"Auron? What are you doing here?" He saw Auron standing calmly as people dodged him as they fled.

"Waiting for you." Auron said lazily.

"What are you talking about?" Tidus shouted, but Auron had walked away.

Tidus followed him, even though Auron was leisurely strolling along. He bagan to panic at the sight of the frantic mess that was happening all around him. And just when he was about to scream with fear and frustration, time stopped.

Everything was still. The people froze in running stances. The sphere hung lazily in the air. A half-destroyed building was stuck in a falling pose.

"It begins." Tidus turned around to where he'd heard the voice. It was from the small boy with the purple hood who had told him he couldn't teach the young boys blitzball that night.

Tidus looked at him with confusion, but the boy just nodded and said, "Don't cry." And then, as if nothing had happened, time began again.

He noticed Auron heading towards the gigantic sphere. "Hey! Tidus called, "Not this way!"

Auron stopped to look up at the gigantic sphere. "Look. We called it 'Sin'."

"Sin?" Tidus repeated, trying to understand. Abruptly, a tentacle smashed to the ground, dozens of small pods sprung from it, turning into strange blue insect like creatures. Tidus slowly backed away from the crowd of them that just kept forming. Then Auron shoved something in his face.

"Take it." He said slowly. It was a sword. Tidus slowly took it and examined it. "A gift from Jecht." Auron added.

"My old man?" Tidus questioned. The creatures seemed to notice the sword and backed away.

"I hope you know how to use it." Auron said impatiently. He reached behind him and pulled out a sword that had probably been strapped to his back. He raised it threateningly. "These ones don't matter, we cut through!" He shouted, swinging at a creature. It exploded into blue dust. He ran foreward, cutting a path through the crowd of creatures. Tidus followed, slashing at anything that attacked him.

They ran through, more insects just fell behind them. "Auron, let's get out of here!" Tidus pleaded.

Auron stopped. "We're expected." He began to run.

"Gimme a break!" Tidus shouted impatiently. He followed Auron and they were both quickly surrounded by insects.

"This could be bad..." Auron said, with a hint of worry in his normally always calm voice. Suddenly, he caught sight of a peice of machinery hanging off a ledge. "That," he pointed to it, "Knock it down!"

Tidus heeded the order and shoved it off the ledge. It caused an explosion, knocking a nearby wall down. The wall slowly began to crumble onto the bridge where they stood. "Run!" Auron ordered.

Tidus ran, not paying any attention to where Auron was. The bridge was exploding behind him. He jumped for a nearby ledge, and just barely hung on. He watched in horror as the bridge collapsed into the water, leaving him hanging above the ocean.

Auron already stood on the ledge. The gigantic sphere was above him. "Auron!" Tidus called. The sphere now had a giant hole in it, and it was picking up the remains of buildings into it. "Auron!" He called again. Auron just stared at him.

Finally, he looked at the sphere, and then down at Tidus. "You are sure?" He asked. He didn't give Tidus time to answer. He grabbed hold of the collar of his uniform and pulled him up.

"This is it." He said softly. "This is your story. It all begins here." Then Auron was sucked into the sphere. Tidus shouted, and with a rush of light and noise, he too was trapped inside of the sphere.


	2. The Strangers

** fighter-chick and GiGgLyGaL, thanks for the comments! I really appreciate them!**

**Also, i'm putting all english translations to Al Bhed in double parenthesis ((like this))**

**Thanks for reading! Please RnR! Sorry it took so long to update**

Chapter Two

The Strangers  


He opened his eyes because he heard a voice. "Hey!" It shouted.

"My...old man?" Tidus wondered. It sounded like him, Jecht. Where was he? He looked around and saw that he was swimming, no, floating over Zanarkand. It looked nothing out of the ordinary. But something strange, almost surreal seemed to envelope the city. His vision was blurry. He then remember what happened. Auron and him engulfed into the sphere.

He thought about a lot of things. Like where he was, what he'd gotten himself into. He started to feel light-headed. And then sleepy. He had a dream. A dream of being alone. He wanted someone, anyone beside him. So he didn't have to feel alone anymore.

Suddenly, he woke up with a start and sat up. Sand fell from his face and his clothes as he looked around. He had been lying on a small sandbar, and in front of him was a very large stone structure. The sky was dank and grey, and a harsh, cold, howling wind ruffled in the air. The water around him was as dark as the sky. "Anybody there?" He shouted. "Auron?" No answer.

Tidus noticed a narrow stone pathway leading up to, what he assumed was, the entrance of the structure, which looked to be in ruins. The pathway sloped upward, softly leading him above the water. Bits of the stone were crumbling away. Whoever built this place built it a long, long time ago. He wasn't paying much attention, when suddenly the stone path crumbled into the murky water, him along with it.

Panicked, he dove under the water in hope of finding an entrance that way. Being a blitzball player, he could easily hold his breath for up to an hour. He was certain he might find a way.

He hadn't been swimming for very long when a group of three fish surrounded him. But, they weren't like any other fish he'd ever seen before. They were large, nearly as big as him, and a rich green color luminated with red, orange and yellow scales. They looked at him threateningly, however, and flashed their sharp-looking teeth. Fiends, he decided. Pulling his sword from the scabbard strapped to his back, he swam over and struck down two of the fish easily.

He planned to strike the third, when suddenly, it looked alarmed and swam away. Tidus assumed it was smart enough to escape before meeting the fate of the others, but then he heard a noise from far beneath him, deep within the deepest depths of the water.

The biggest fish he'd ever seen was slowly swimming towards him. No skin covered its rib bones, where bits of fish skin hung from, perhaps like a warning as to what the fish was capable of. The fish swam up and viciously bit the smaller fish, then flinging its bleeding body to the side. It looked at Tidus, an evil gaze in it's eye. Tidus finally caught an opening in the rock wall of the structure where he could get in. He swam, faster than he'd ever swam before.

The fish, might have been faster. He could feel the fish's presence right behind him. He was nearly there, just barely. The fish was sucking now, hoping to pull hard enough to draw him into its mouth. Tidus swam hard. He was almost there, almost there.

BLAM! The fish was not big enough to get through the opening. It crashed hard into the walls surrounding, the force propelling Tidus into the opening. The crash, however, knocked some boulders in front of the opening, leaving only a small opening to escape. Not big enough for the fish, but yet, not big enough for Tidus. He was trapped.

Thankfully, the room he was trapped in lead to stairs, which went up and out of the water. At the top of the stairs was a large, stone door, which he pushed open and walked into a large, circular hall.

He had made it out of the frying pan, yet into the freezer. He thought that he might die in this place. He walked to the center of the hall, his feet making empty echoes. There lay the ash-ridden remains of a campfire. Suddenly, he got an idea.

In a sconce vase on the wall he found a yellowed, dryed, but perfect for building a fire with, withered bouquet. In a broken drawer in one of the corridors he found two rough rocks that could be used as flint. He carefully carried these back to the campfire remains and assembled a small, but warm, fire.

He lay on his back, letting the fire warm his feet. He was very hungry, and felt very alone. Slowly, a vision clouded him.

"What do you want?" He wasn't in the empty hall of the ruins, he was back at his home in Zanarkand. Auron stood at his front door. He remembered this. It was recently.

"It was a bad call." Auron was saying. "Your team lost because of you."

"You came to say _that_?" Tidus had said, impatiently.

"It's been...ten years. I thought you'd be crying." Auron said quietly. Then he turned and walked out of the house.

"Who? Me?" Tidus said. He wouldn't cry. He didn't cry.

The dark-skinned boy with the purple hood suddenly appeared. "You cried." He said softly. Tidus didn't remember the boy at all being there.

'How strange.' He thought, as he sat up. Noticing that his feet were not feeling as warm as they had, he looked and realized that the fire was dying into small embers.

"Hey! Wait! Don't go out on me!" He cried. "Just hold on, I'll get more wood." He stood up and turned. A sharp, hissing noise behind him made him realize that he wasn't, despite his thoughts, alone. He wasn't alone at all.

A fiend had lunged from the top of the hall. It was sleek, jet black and had six pointy legs. It was standing, tapping its many feet, poised to fight. Tidus drew his sword to defend himself.

As he prepared to run forward to strike the fiend, he heard a commotion from behind the large doors which he came in. The fiend seemed to notice it, too. Both turned to look.

BANG! A loud noise could be heard from behind the doors. BANG! It sounded almost like and explosion. BANG! The large doors burst open in an explosion. When the smoke and dust settled, Tidus could see a group of very strangely dressed men standing, with guns drawn. In the middle stood a girl, probably not much younger than he, wearing a skin-tight yellow wetsuit, red armor strapped to her arms and legs, a red helmet, and, as well as the others, wore goggles.

She darted forward and, without saying a word, drew a grenade and tossed it at the fiend. It exploded, the fiend collapsed and disappeared. Tidus looked at her with amazement. She stared at him too for a moment, and then reached up and yanked off her goggles, revealing a pair of peircing green eyes. Tidus was amazed. He'd never seen eyes so vibrant before. There was something very strange about them.

"Whew!" He breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close!"

The other strangely-dressed men who'd came in with her all began to walk forward, guns still drawn. One of them walked up behind Tidus and grabbed him by his hair. "Hey! Lemme go!" He shouted.

"Fryd ec drec?" ((What is this)) The man asked. Tidus was stunned to hear the strange words coming out of the man's mouth.

"Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!" ((A fiend! In human disguise!)) Another man exclaimed. Tidus recognized the word "fiend", but nothing else.

"Oac! Ed ec cu!" ((Yes! It is so!)) Another said, sounding threatening.

The man who had Tidus by his hair suddenly drew a knife and held it to Tidus's throat. "Fa gemm ed?" ((We kill it?)) He asked the girl.

The girl shook her head. "Fyed! Fryd ev ed ec risyh?" ((Wait! What if it is human?)) She responded.

The man holding Tidus pointed his knife at the girl. "Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr." ((They are all the same in death.)) He informed her.

The girl shook her head again. "E vunpet ed! Fa pnehk ed fedr ic!" ((I forbid it! We bring it with us!)) She said firmly. Slowly, she saunted up to him, a strange sort of smile on her face. She walked up very close to him. Closer than he'd liked. So close, her body was right up against his. "Cunno." ((Sorry.)) She said apologetically, and she kneed him hard in the stomach. Tidus dropped to the ground, unconcious.


	3. The Salvage MIssion

**BlueEyedRikku and ChloKes and IridescentFlight, thanks for the comments!**

**The past few chapters may have not been that exciting, but that is because i'm not too fond of this part in the story. As Tidus travels into Besaid, trust me, things will get a lot more lively.**

**Please RnR!**

Chapter Three

The Salvage Mission

When he opened his eyes, he was met with the grey sky again. He stood up and realized that he was still surrounded by the strange men. But, they had escaped the hall. Now, they were on a strange, barge-like boat, floating along in the middle of the murky ocean. He looked around him. It was too foggy to tell, but he suspected that they were probably far, far away from those ruins.

"Ced, lybdeja!" ((Sit, captive!)) One of the men shouted at him. He stabbed at Tidus with the muzzle of his gun. He fell backwards.

"Hey! That _hurts!_" Tidus told the man.

" Hu sujehk, rayn?" ((No moving, hear?)) The man said, giving him a threatening glare.

Tidus sat on the floor of the boat, wondering what these people wanted from him. The door of the boat's cabin lifted, and out walked the girl from earlier, followed by a tall, well-built man with a blonde Mowhawk. His arms were covered in swooping, blue tattoos, which reminded him of the ocean. He approached Tidus, while the girl jumped up and sat on the boat's railing.

"Caynlr res!" ((Search him!)) The man said loudly. He looked Tidus in the eye. "Fa luimt gemm oui, pid fa'ja taletat du mad oui fung vun ic." ((We could kill you, but we've decided to let you work for us.))

Tidus rolled his eyes. These people seemed to not understand the fact that Tidus simply did not speak their strange language. "Right. Whatever." Was Tidus's response.

The man gave him a confused look. The girl watched with interest as the man spoke again. "Tu oui hud cbayg?" ((Do you not speak?))

"I said," Tidus spoke firmly. "I don't understand!"

"Ehcumahla!" ((Insolence!)) The man screamed. The girl rolled her eyes, hopped of the railing, and looked at the man with a sigh.

"Lyms tufh!" ((Calm down!)) She screamed back at him. Then, turning to Tidus, she calmly spoke. "He says you can stay if you make yourself useful."

Tidus looked at the girl with utter shock. "You under_stand_ me?" He gasped, his mouth wide-open, his eyes in a stunned gaze. One of the armed men poked him in the chest with the muzzle of the gun. "All right, I'll work." He said reluctantly.

He followed the girl to the edge of the ship as she explained the job that they needed his help with to him. "So, we found some ancient ruins right beneath us! It's not active now, but there should be _some_ power left. Me and you are gonna go down there and activate it, that okay with you?"

"Sure, whatever. It won't be hard right?"

"Nah." The girl said, pulling her goggles back on. "If we can do that, then we should be able to salvage the big prize! Okay? Let's get to work!"

Tidus nodded in agreement, then climbed onto the railing and dove into the water, which was quite cold, but strangely refreshing. He looked up and watched as the girl did a showy, graceful dive off the railing and landed with a small splash beside him. They both dove down, and Tidus followed the girl down deep into the water.

He finally saw something near the bottom of the water. It looked to be some sort of ruins, a ship perhaps, long sunken in the water. The girl motioned for him to follow into a rotted opening in the wall of the ruins.

Inside was a small room with an old control panel, old enough that it was covered with algae and seaweed and fish had made it their home. The girl swam over and examined it, a curious look on her face. She tapped the screen of the panel with her finger tip, as if trying to figure out how to turn it on. A moment later, she pressed several of the many buttons along the panel and instantly, the screen jolted to life with a bluish glow. The girl looked satisfied and smiled as she began to press some more buttons.

Tidus began to wonder as he watched, were these people good? Or were they an evil sort, living off these ruins in the sea? He didn't know, and he wasn't too sure how he could ask her.

The girl suddenly looked up and turned to the other side of the room, where bubbles had suddenly begun to rise up. Tidus noticed this too, and sensed danger.

From the darkness rose a large head, a menacing face, followed by eight long tentacles. The girl looked alarmed, and Tidus knew, this was a fiend. He reached for his sword, but was too late.

The girl had pulled out a grenade, similar to the one that she had used on the monster in the hall earlier, pulled the cord, and tossed it at the fiend. It floated through the water and hit the octopus-like fiend hard. An explosion rocked the water, sending waves throughout the room, the fiend fell back, defeated.

Motioning for them to leave, the girl swam to the opening from whence they came. Tidus followed, and they both made their way to the surface.

The girl seemed excited as she began to speak rapidly to the men in the strange language. They nodded and began to walk to the cabin.

"Cu, fa vuiht dra yencreb! E cibbuca dryd dra naluntc fana nekrd." ((So, we found the airship! I suppose that the records were right.)) One man said to another as they headed into the cabin.

Tidus looked at the girl. "What's an airship?"

The girl giggled. "Isn't it obvious? It's a ship that can fly. But, this one might not. It's been underwater for a long, long, _long_ time!" She walked towards the cabin, Tidus followed.

One of the men let the girl in, but pushed Tidus back when he tried to enter. "Oui, uidceta!" ((You, outside!")) He shouted, before closing the cabin hatch.

"Hey, I helped, didn't I?" Tidus screamed at the closed door. He sighed and and sat down, leaning his back against the railing.

He waited a long time, probably hours, until the hatch door opened and the girl walked out, thankfully, carrying a tray of food.

She strolled over to Tidus and dropped the tray of food in front of Tidus, along with a canteen of water. "Woah! Right on!" He thanked her cheerfully. He gobbled up the food as the girl watched him with intreuge.

He laughed once he finished eating, realizing that he could finally ask the girl some questions. He started out simple. "Hello there, what is your name?"

The girl was quiet for a moment, perhaps deciding whether or not she could trust him. She must have decided that she could, because she beamed and said softly, "Rikku."

Tidus nearly jumped and hugged her, which surprised her quite a bit. "You really _do_ understand!" He let go of her and introduced himself, then asked her, "Why didn't you tell me so earlier?"

Rikku laughed. "You didn't give me a chance! Everyone thought _oui _were a fiend!"

"Um...'we?'" Tidus was unclear.

"Oh! _Oui _means _you_." She explained.

"Who _are_ you guys anyway?"

Rikku looked surprised. "We're Al Bhed, can't you tell?" She suddenly looked alarmed. "Wait, you're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?"

Tidus shook his head. "I don't even know what an Al Bhed is." It was true. He'd never heard the word before.

"Where are you from?" Rikku asked curiously.

"Zanarkand." Tidus told her, proudly. "I'm a blitzball player. The _star_ player of the Zanarkand Abes!"

Rikku gave him an odd look and was quiet for a moment. "Did you...hit your head or something?" She asked after a moment.

"You hit me." Tidus remembered.

"Oh yeah! Sorry. Do you remember anything before that?"

So, he told her everything that there was to tell about Zanarkand. About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack. Also, about how Auron and he were engulfed into a light in the sphere. But then he started to wonder, especially because of how solemn Rikku looked.

"Did I...say something funny?" He asked.

"You were near Sin!" Rikku said, alarmed and concerened. "Don't worry. You'll be better in no time. Your head gets funny whenever Sin is near. Maybe you had some sort of dream?"

Tidus was confused. "You mean I'm sick?"

"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Rikku said. "You see, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So no one plays blitzball there."

This was shocking news to Tidus. "What do you mean, a thousand years ago? I saw Sin attack Zanarkand! You saw that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"

Rikku was silent for a while. Both stood at the edge of the boat, staring into the depths below. She spoke again.

"You said...that you play blitzball?"

She grinned when Tidus nodded. "You should go to Luca. In a few days there's gonna be a big blitzball tournament there. Tons and tons of people are gonna go. You might find someone you know there, or someone you might recognize."

"Luca?" He questioned. "That a city or something?"

Rikku sighed. "Don't worry. I'll get you to Luca, I promise!" She held up her hand to show it. When Tidus looked slightly worried she asked, "You'd rather stay here?"

"No way!"

Rikku smiled. "Wait here. I'll go tell the others!" She ran towards the hatch, but then skidded to a stop. "Oh! One more thing!" She turned and faced him sternly. "Don't tell _anyone _you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place, and you might upset someone."

His Zanarkand? Some kind of holy place? Yeah right, he thought, since when? And Yevon? Sin? Luca? He thought that Sin took him to some faraway land, that he'd be able to go home in a day or two. But a _thousand years _into the future? "No way!" He shouted, and the boat began to shake uncontrollably.

The Al Bhed ran out of the cabin to find the source of the shaking. "What did you do?" Rikku asked. He didn't have time to answer.

"Sin!" One of the men screamed. "Sin ec lusa!" Sin is come!

"Ihtan ic! Ihtan ic!" Another shouted. Under us! Under us!

Tidus recognized the it as the beast who had attacked Zanarkand. It seemed to be creating a large whirlpool beside the boat. Water sprayed up onto the deck. Tidus slipped, and fell off of the boat and intot he waves. Rikku screamed and tried to reach for him, but it was too late. The last thing he remembered was falling, falling intot he whirlpool.


	4. Besaid

**BlueEyedRikku and ChloKes and IridescentFlight, thanks for the comments!**

**The past few chapters may have not been that exciting, but that is because i'm not too fond of this part in the story. As Tidus travels into Besaid, trust me, things will get a lot more lively.**

**Please RnR!**

Chapter Four

Besaid

The cool water felt good on his face. Thinking about it made him burst back to conciousness. He opened him eyes and pulled up his head. "Rikku?" He called out. Neither she, nor the boat were in sight. As his vision came into clear, he saw a bright, sandy beach in front of him, several yards away. The beach was surrounded by thick, lush, green trees and large, jagged boulders.

He looked down at the water, which was a crisp, clear blue, like the cloudless sky, not at all like the dank cloudy, dark water at the ruins. He could see all the way down the the sandy floor.

Suddenly BAM! Something hit him hard on the back of the head, making him slam back underwater. He surfaced and found what had hit him. It brought a smile to his face. He scooped up the familiar blue and white ball. "Blitzball!" He cheered, excited by the find.

"Hey! You okay?" A voice from the beach called. He saw six or so men, all wearing identical yellow uniforms standing on the beach. One of them was waving to him.

"Hey!" Tidus called back, relieved that he wouldn't be alone here. He decided to return the ball in a true blitzer way.

Swimming deep into the water, he shot straight up, hitting the ball with his head and sending it up into the air. He flipped out of the water and kicked the ball back as hard as he could. As he descended into the water, he watched the ball fly to the beach at an extensive speed. The man who had called to him had to duck out of the way so the ball didn't hit him in the face. "Woah!" He said with a smile.

They met Tidus as he swam to the shore. The men were in awe. "Yo...hiya." Tidus said, hoping they were friendly.

The man who had called to him was talking to two other men at the far end of the beach, but when he turned and saw Tidus, he opened his mouth in shock and ran over. "You wanna...try that move...one more time?" He asked eagerly. Tidus beamed. Finally, things were starting to look up.

Tidus bounced the ball on his head up into the air and did an identical kick. The ball soared out to sea, skimming the water as it went. The other men gasped in amazement.

"You no amateur. Who you play for?" The man asked.

Tidus smirked proudly. "The Zanarkand Abes!" The other men looked at him strangely and muttered amongst themselves.

"What team you say again?" The man asked, looking concerned.

Rikku's warning about Zanarkand flooded back to him. "I meant...forget that. I got too close to Sin, and my head's all foggy-like. I don't know where this place is. Or even where I came from."

The man shook his head. "Sin's toxin got to you. But, you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon." Tidus recognized the word "Yevon" from Rikku, but was still unsure what it meant. But then all the men did the blitzball sign for victory. They raised their arms in the air, then swooped them down into a circular shape in front of their chests, followed by a bow.

"All right, back to practice boys!" The man shouted to the others. They walked off to the beach and began to chat amonst themselves. "I'm Wakka. Coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda." He said. He was tall, taller than Tidus, He had tanned skin and orange hair. His uniform was slightly different than the rest, and he had a blue headband.

Tidus introduced himself. But felt embarrassment as his stomach grumbled. How long had it been since he was on Rikku's ship?

Wakka heard the grumble. "What? You hungry? Okay! Back to the village! I'll get you somethin'."

He followed Wakka to a small path on the corner of the beach which led into a woodsy area. He felt he could trust Wakka, so he had to ask.

"It's true, right? That Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago? It's just a pile of rubble now, right?"

Wakka stopped. "Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machina--machines--to run 'em. People played all day and let the machina do the work. And then, well, take a look." He pointed to a cliff overlooking the ocean. Atop the cliff were old ruins, tilted and crumbling. "Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities, Zanarkand along with 'em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago.

"If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get outta hand. What gets me, though, is the fact that we have to suffer because of what some goofballs did way back when. Course, we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?" Wakka suddenly burst out laughing.

"But you from the Zanarkand Abes, that was a good one!" Tidus laughed a little too, but his mind was focused on what Wakka said. Wakka and Rikku couldn't both be lying, could they? "I'm not saying the team never exsisted, ya? But you gotta figure, a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?

Tidus gave a soft smile. He appreciated that Wakka was trying to cheer him up, but all he could think about was that everything that had happened to him, it all began with Sin. Maybe if he found Sin one more time, he could go home. Until then, he'd just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where, or when, he was. It was hard not to think of his home, but he started to feel better, just a little, but still, better.

There were more ruins in the trees along the path. Some had small creatures who's made homes in them, others had full grown trees growing through them, sprouting out through the roofs.

Eventually, he and Wakka reached a large lagoon surrounded by cliffs, blue and clear as the ocean. They crossed a set of bridges leading across to the other side. "Got a favor to ask ya." Wakka said.

Tidus had been expecting it. "Lemme guess, you want me on your team, right?"

"There's a huge blitz tournament coming up. It's so huge, I'm sure someone there will recognize you. Then, you could go back to your old team, right? It'll be fun, what do you say?"

"Sure thing!" Tidus said. He was glad to be included, but he really hoped he would find someone he recognized.

"Dude! Our team is gonna rock!" Wakka cheered, then he headed down a downhill dirt path. Tidus wondered if Sina and blitzball were the only things Zanarkand and this world, "Spira" Wakka had called it, had in common. He wasn't too far off either.

When they reached a cliffside, Wakka pointed to a small village below. "This is where I was born, Besaid Village. Started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochs at thirteen, ten years ago." Wakka sighed. "Ten years, and we never won a game. So, after last years tournament, I quit. Time seemed right. And after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But everytime my mind wandered, I thought about the game."

Tidus nodded. "Ten years without a win'll do that to you."

My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus."

Tidus laughed. "Nice excuse! So, you wanna win the next tournament? Go out with a bang, huh?" Wakka smiled and nodded. "What's our goal?" Tidus asked enthusiastically.

"I don't care who we do. Long as we play our best. If we give it our all, I can walk away happy."

Tidus couldn't believe his ears. "No, no, no, no, no. If I say, 'What's our goal?', you say, 'Victory!'"

Wakka's eyes were wide. "Victory? You serious?" Tidus nodded, and they continued their way down the path to the village.

Eventually, they encountered the two men that Wakka had been speaking with earlier. One, who appeared older than both Tidus and Wakka with bright red hair and a purple uniform smiled. "Ah, yes, the one from the sea."

The other, who was younger with black hair and had a long scar on his face spoke, too. "Be on guard, we've seen fiends on the road today."

"After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now." The older one added. Then they both bowed, and headed towards the village.

"Who were they?" Tidus questioned.

"Ah! Luzzu and Gatta, Crusaders."

"Crews of what?"

"What! You forgot that, too?" When Tidus hung his head, he apologized, "Hey, sorry. Don't worry about it, I'll help you out."

"Cool. In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup!"

Wakka smiled. "About the crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village."

Finally, they came upon the gates of the village. It was made up of several tiny huts, with a large, intricately built building at the far end. "The Crusader's lodge is over yonder," Wakka pointed to one of the huts, slightly bigger than the rest. "Luzzu and Gatta are usually there." Then he pointed to another, smaller hut. "We'll get you some food there later. Oh!" He suddenly grabbed Tidus's arm and yanked him away from the gate, where the villagers couldn't see him. "You remember the prayer, right?"

"I...uh, don't remember?" Tidus said. He was getting worried about making up so many excuses.

"Man, that's like the basics of the basics." Wakka said. "All right. I'll show ya." He did the "prayer," which, as Tidus knew it, wasn't a prayer at all. Wakka raised his arms in the air, then swooped them down into an arc in front of him with a bow. Any blitzball player would know that "prayer." In Zanarkand, it was the blitzball sign for victory. Tidus was in disbelief.

"First, go talk with the Crusaders, then go present yourself to the temple summoner, and see if you get your memory back."

Tidus did as he was told and strolled over to the Crusaders lodge. It was a small place, with two rooms, the first had a table and chairs, where he could see Luzzu and Gatta sitting, conversing. The second room, hidden by a curtain contained several beds, for travellers and the Crusaders.

The younger one, Gatta, called out when he saw him. "Hey, you, you were near Sin, right? Recently was it?"

Tidus nodded, and joined the Crusaders at the table. "If Sin is nearby, it'll attack the island for sure. But it hasn't. I wonder why." Luzza said, puzzled.

"I'm sorry." Tidus told them. "I really don't know anything. To tell you the truth, I

don't even know what the Crusaders are."

"Sin! The toxin! Gatta, tell him who we are!" Luzzu ordered.

"Yessir!" Gatta stood up and saluted. "The Crusaders are sworn to battle Sin! We have chapters throughout Spira, accepting all who wish to join our struggle! The hero Mi'ihen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later, our ranks grew and we called ourselves the Crusaders. We've been fighting Sin ever since!"

"You've been fighting eight hundred years and you've never been able to defeat it?" Tidus wondered.

"Well, we've steered Sin away from towns many times! And that's all we can do. Nobody's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the temples, towns, villages, and people of Spira." Luzzu answered. "Now, go pray at the temple. Perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory."

Tidus took the advice and headed over to the temple. And it was then, standing in that place, he began to realize how different this world was from his own. The temple was a circlular room, lined with many statues of various men and women. At the far end of the room was a staircase, leading up to a stone door. A statue caught his eye nearby the staircase of a man wearing long hooded robes and carrying a staff. He walked over to it.

"Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became High Summoner. And finally we received a statue for our temple." A voice said from behind him. He turned around and saw an old man wearing colorful robes gazing at the statue with him.

"What's a...High Summoner?" Tidus asked the man.

Everyone in the temple gasped. The man stared at him, stunned. "I...I got too close to Sin's, uh, toxin." Tidus explained, causing everyone in the temple to sigh with relief. They all did the prayer gesture then continued looking at the statues and praying. It was funny hearing himself make the same excuse over and over. Funny, and a little sad.

"The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth entities of great power: the aeons. The aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessing of Yevon." The man explained. So what he meant was that they should respect some kind of great men or something like that.

Tidus thanked the man and made his way to the hut that Wakka pointed out. He found Wakka seated inside. "Sorry, man. No time for lunch yet." Wakka said. But then he frowned. "Take a nap! You look bushed." He told Tidus, pointing to a nearby bed. Tidus thanked him and lay down, grateful to get some rest. He was exhausted from the rough day so far.

Shortly after, the man who had explained the art of summoning to Tidus showed up at the hut and began to speak with Wakka.

"You could at least go see how they're doing." He said.

"We can't interfere, it's a rule!" Wakka responded.

"But...it's been nearly a day all ready..."

Those words made a memory jog up into Tidus's mind He remembered it clearly now. The day his father disappeared.

"It's been nearly a day all ready." One of the men had told his mother.

His mother was trying very hard to remain calm. "Perhaps...perhaps you could go look for us?"

"People are searching for him now. But we are trying." The man had told her, as he walked away.

"Thank you." His mother had whispered.

He hated himself for speaking that way towards his mother. "Who _cares _whether he comes back or not!" He had shouted at her, causing her eyes to well with tears.

"But...but he might die!"

"Fine!" He screamed. "Let him!"

His mother's face was in disbelief. "Do you...do you hate him so?"

A tear rolled down her cheek as Tidus had nodded. "But if he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him!"

Tidus snapped back to conciousness, alone in the hut. "Wakka?" He called. His intuition told him to go to the temple.

"Is something wrong?" He asked Wakka and the man, both of whom stood at the bottom of the tall staircase in the temple.

"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial." Wakka said, a touch of worry in his voice. "Well," he corrected himself, "Apprentice summoner, really..." He explained it all to Tidus. "There's a room in there called the Chamber of the Fayth. That is where the apprentice summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a fully-fledged summoner, remember?"

"Right. So someone is in there somewhere and they haven't come back out. Right, I got it."

Wakka looked up at the staircase. "A day's all ready gone by."

"Is it particularly dangerous in there?"

"Sometimes." Wakka said. "Yes."

"Why don't you go in and help?"

"There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden." Wakka informed him.

Tidus suddenly felt overcome. These people seemed so stupid. He ran to stairs. "What if something happens?" He argued. "What if this summoner...dies?"

The man raised his hand. "The precepts must be obeyed!" He said firmly.

"Like I care!" Tidus called back to him, running up to the door and entering. The people in the temple gasped.

Maybe, it wasn't such a good idea after all.


	5. The Summoner

**I've decided to forgo talking about the Cloister of Trials. They're too difficult to explain. Just pretend they never exsisted, and you enter straight into the Chamber of the Fayth, okay?**

**Here's the next chapter for you guys. It's a loooooooong one. Hope you enjoy!**

**Please RnR!**

Chapter Five

The Summoner

He heard Wakka burst in behind him. "Hey! What's gotten into you?" Tidus knew he had done something very bad. He had been so overcome with emotion, he overlooked how offended everyone might get if he broke their rules. "Hey, it's okay. I explained to the High Priest and Priestess about your run in with Sin, so it'll be fine. Just try to remember: Only summoners, apprentice summoners, and their guardians can enter here. It's a tradition. Very important."

They had walked through a hallway inside the door above the staircase and reached a lift. "So what about you?" Tidus asked.

"Me? I'm a guardian." Wakka responded.

"A guardian?"

Wakka shook his head. "You'll figure it out." The lift brought them downwards. "Summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every temple in Spira. Guardians protect them There are two guardians in there now. One of them's got a short fuse, and who knows what the other's thinking." He sighed. "Well, now that we've come this far...might as well go all the way!" Wakka added, somewhat cheerfully. They entered a door at the bottom of the lift.

They were met with a woman's stern voice. "What are _you_ doing here? Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?"

One of the strangest-dressed woman that Tidus had ever seen was standing in front of them, arms folded. She had long, long, black hair in several braids. She was tall and pale, with a heavily-made up face. Her face seemed to fall in a natural-looking frown. Her dress was baffling. It was long, so long it dragged on the floor, and violet, the edges and hem lined in lace. The neck was lined in beige fur. Her arms were folded across her tightly-corsetted chest, her bony hands had talon-like finger nails, painted a violet to match her dress and make-up. But the strangest thing about this woman was the fact that she held some sort of doll. It was small and white, yet it looked hastily-made with only brown thread "X's" for eyes and a thin expressionless mouth. No doubt, it was creepy.

Another guardian was in the room. But Tidus doubted that he was human. He was tall, nearly two head taller than Tidus, and covered from head to toe in dense, light blue fur. He had yellow cat-like eyes, and his face, hands, and feet were those of a beast. He had long white hair falling from the top of his head, and he held a tall, sharp spear. Atop his head was a white stub, perhaps some sort of horn, and his muscles bulged from beneath his fur. The spear and the strange sort of clothing that he wore made him look like a warrior beast. He stood at the far end of the chamber, in front of a thick, stone door arms folded, glaring at Tidus.

"No, Lulu, it's just...uh..." Wakka turned to Tidus. "See, I told you she gets mad easy!" He whispered.

Lulu made a scowl at Tidus. "Who are you?" She asked bitterly. Tidus was opened his mouth to speak when the stone door opened.

Out staggered a girl, probably about Tidus's age. She was petite, with ash-brown locks cascading to her shoulders, framing her delicate face. She wore a white shirt made of a flowing material and a long, pleated purple skirt decorated with a pattern of white flowers. On her arms were arm warmers, which were pale pink, and long, they nearly reached her feet, on which she wore plain black boots. She held a blue staff. At the top was a large, circular, decoration, which reminded Tidus of the sun. A yellow sash with pink, blue, and purple flowers was tied around her waist, with an elaborate bow in the back. Her left eye was as blue as the ocean on the Besaid beach, while her right eye was as green as one of the trees growing in the ruins. Tidus thought her beautiful, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. 'That's a summoner?' He thought to himself. He was surprised, he'd assumed summoners were all old men.

A drop of sweat appeared at her temple and rolled down the side of her face. She looked exhausted, large unsightly bags had formed under her eyes. Her breathing was heavy, as though she had been running. She looked at her guardians and Tidus and gave a small smile. Then, she fainted, but the blue beast lunged, catching her in his arms before she hit the floor. He helped her steady herself. She took a deep breath and smiled. "I've...I've done it. I have become a...a summoner." She said softly, but happily.

Neither of the other guardians mentioned Tidus's presense as they followed the girl out of the chamber, out of the temple and into the village outside. A crowd had formed outside. All performed the prayer as the girl walked to the center of the village. Wakka stepped out of the crowd and grabbed Tidus, pulling him into the crowd. "Wait'll you see this!" He said excitedly.

The summoner stood in the center of the village, the crowd all watching from in front of the temple. The girl flung open her arms at the sky. A few clouds began to form in the sky. Then, the girl pulled her staff behind her. A strange series of glowing lights and symbols formed around. They morphed together, then hurled up into the clouds. The clouds in the sky burst open, and out flew a gigantic bird-like creature.

It's head and beak were white and it had glowing eyes. It's neck and lower body were covered in red feathers. Big, jagged, yellow wings sprouted from the creature's back. It swooped down and landed on the ground in front of the summoner. The crowd let out noises of amazement.

"An aeon!" A man in front of Tidus gasped.

"From the fayth of the Priestess Valefor, I suppose." A woman responded.

The girl approached the beast, Valefor, slowly. When it let her near it, she reached out and stroked the feathers on it's neck. The crowd clapped. She smiled, and with a wave of her hand, the beast flew off back into the heavens.

He had never seen anything like it in his life. Sure, it was a little scary, but he could feel a strange kind of gentleness coming from it.

That night, they talked for the first time. And after that night, everything changed.

There was a celebration in Besaid that night. The whole village surrounded a huge bonfire, to celebrate the birth of the summoner. Tidus could see the summoner on the other side of the bonfire, talking with some people from the temple. Wakka was introducing him to the team.

"This guy here wants into the tournament so bad, I let him on the team. His memory's a little fuzzy, so don't mind him if he says anything odd! Come on, say hi." Wakka instructed.

Tidus smiled and waved. "So, what's our goal?" He asked the Aurochs.

"To do our best!" They shouted in unison.

"Nope!" Wakka said, proudly. "We got a new goal now...victory! To win every match, defeat every opposing team! To bring the Crystal Cup back to our island! That's all we need to do to win! Easy, ya?"

"Victory?" The Aurochs asked, pondering the word, as though it was the first time they'd ever used it. They smiled, realizing that they new player would bring them hope. "Victory! Victory! Victory!" They chanted. Tidus caught the summoner's eye. She gave him a big smile.

He felt like he owed it to her to apologize for storming into her training. He excused himself from the team, and headed over to where the summoner sat.

"You heathen!" A man growled at Tidus.

"Stay away from the summoner!" A woman hissed.

"You're a bad man!" A small girl said, matter-of-factly.

The summoner looked slightly angry at them. "It was my fault to begin with." She told them. She walked over to Tidus.

"I'm Yuna." She said cheerfully. "Thank you so much for your help earlier!"

"I'm sorry about that." Tidus apologized. "Wasn't that...wasn't I not supposed to...guess I...kind of overreacted."

Yuna brushed it off. "Oh no! I was...overconfident."

They stood in an awkward silence for a moment. "I saw that aeon thing...that's amazing!" Tidus told her.

She giggled. "Really? Oh, do you think that I can become High Summoner?"

"Absolutely!" Tidus said, still unsure of what the term meant.

"Lady Yuna, come play with me some more!" Begged the girl who'd called Tidus a "bad man."

Yuna nodded, but quickly turned to Tidus. "So, tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow?" Tidus wondered.

"We're going on the same boat, aren't we? We can talk more." She turned and began to walk back with the little girl. "You can tell me all about Zanarkand!" She called back.

"She's cute, ya?" Wakka was suddenly next to Tidus.

"Yeah!" Tidus chirped, suddenly wishing he could grab the words out of the sky and stuff them back in his mouth.

"Don't get no ideas." Wakka warned him.

"No promises there, big guy. Hey, but what if she, like, comes on to me?" Tidus questioned.

"That's not going to happen." Wakka informed him. Oh, and let me now if you get tired, I had a bed made for you at the Crusaders lodge."

Tidus took Wakka up on the offer, and headed towards the lodge. That night, he had a dream.

He was on a dock, staring out to sea, Yuna was beside him. "Where's that boat?" He asked her.

"Everyone will find us," She informed him, "If it doesn't come soon."

"You sure this is okay?" He was asking.

"Would you take me to Zanarkand?" Yuna said, in a begging tone.

"Hey!" A voice chirped. It was Rikku, suddenly running down the dock to meet them. "You said you'd go with me!"

"Oh, hey...I, uh..." Was Tidus's smart response.

Rikku put her hands on her hips. "I thought Wakka told you not to get any ideas."

"He did?" Yuna asked.

"Yeah, so you're coming with me!" Rikku said sharply.

"Hey! Stop dreaming!" Another voice cut into the dream. Tidus turned and saw his father, Jecht, standing on the nearby beach. Rikku and Yuna had suddenly appeared beside him. "You? With a woman? You can't even catch a ball!" He was still on the pier, but he was younger now. The same ten-year-old boy he'd been when Jecht disappeared, crying. "Oh, what's the matter? You gonna cry again? Cry, cry, that's the only thing you're good for!" Jecht said with a laugh.

"I hate you..." The young Tidus was whispering.

"Huh? What'd you say?" Jecht said, in his loud, obnoxious tone.

"You have to speak loudly." Yuna told him.

"I hate you!" He shouted.

"Huh?" Jecht still couldn't hear him.

"That's the spirit!" Rikku cheered.

"You can do it!" Yuna said, encouragingly.

"I hate you!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. But he wasn't in the dream anymore. He was in his bed at the Crusaders lodge.

"He's dead, okay? Dead!" A voice from outside the lodge cut through the air. Tidus crept over to investigate.

Pulling back the curtain, which made a makeshift door to the outside of the lodge, he saw that everyone in the village had left. Only Wakka, and the dark, frowning guardian, Lulu stood in front of the dying fire. It was Lulu who had informed Wakka that whoever was dead.

"He does look a lot like Chappu. I was surprised, too, the first time I saw him. But no matter what he looks like, he isn't Chappu! You shouldn't have brought him hear in the first place!" Lulu said threateningly to Wakka.

"Yeah, but...he needed our help!" Wakka tried to explain.

Lulu folded her arms across her chest. "Excuses again?" She demanded.

"Yeah...but..."

She held up her hand, as if trying to physically end the conversation. "That's it. No more. Enough, Wakka!" She turned and walked towards the temple. Wakka slumped his shoulders, looking defeated.

"Wakka!" Tidus whisper-called. Wakka went over to the lodge and joined Tidus inside.

"Scary!" Tidus said, thinking of the tone Lulu used with Wakka. "So, who's Chappu?"

Wakka sat down on the bed across from Tidus. "My little brother, Chappu. He looked like you."

"He's dead?"

Wakka sighed. "He was...with the Crusaders when they fought Sin last year. He didn't make it. I first heard on the day of the tournament."

"Oh. So that's why you couldn't focus."

Wakka nodded. "I became a guardian to fight Sin, ya?"

"Revenge then?"

"That was the idea. But, now I'm more worried about a stupid game than avenging my brother." Wakka said. "Well, after the next tournament, I'll be a guardian full-time. I know it kinda looks like I'm using you, but I'm not."

"Don't worry. I mean, I owe you a lot. You really helped me out, you know? What I mean is... thanks, Wakka." Tidus said with a smile.

"Stop! You're embarrassing me!" Wakka said with a laugh.

The next morning, he headed out of the lodge and met Wakka and Lulu at the center of the village. "Hey! Sleepyhead! Something I wanna give you." Wakka told him.

He handed Tidus a beautiful, crystal blue sword that reminded him of the ocean at the Besaid beach. It was amazing, and probably a lot better than the sword he was currently using. "Woah! You're giving this...to me?" Tidus asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Wakka said proudly. "Use it well."

"You need a weapon to be a guardian?" Tidus wondered.

"It's not a rule, but it's recommended. Gotta protect the summoner with all your might!" Wakka held up the blitzball he was carrying. "I'm a hard-hitter. I think I can make a few enemies, and a few blitz opponents, go down!" He added with a laugh.

"What about you?" Tidus asked Lulu. She rolled her eyes. At that moment, the stiching eyes on the doll she was holding glowed bright red. There was no denying it. Lulu could control that doll.

Lulu frowned and pointed to the sword that Wakka had given Tidus. "That's the sword you gave Chappu."

"Yeah, well, he never used it." Wakka quickly changed the subject. "Where's Yuna?"

"We're taking the same boat as Yuna, right? Why do we gotta wait here?" Tidus asked.

"Yuna came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started." Wakka explained. "Since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Lulu. But she had the talent, and she became an apprentice. Now, today, she leaves as a summoner."

"This is our journey." Lulu added. "We should leave together."

Yuna walked out of the temple to join them, along with her staff, she was carrying a large suitcase.

"You really don't need all that luggage..." Lulu told her.

"There not really my things. They're gifts for the temples we're to visit." Yuna explained.

"This isn't a vacation Yuna." Wakka said, warningly.

"I guess...I guess you're right." Yuna said softly. She ran over to them, abandoning her suitcase on the temple steps.

"Okay!" Wakka cheered. "Off we go!" The group began to walk towards the village gates. Tidus looked behind him and saw Yuna, straggling, gazing at the temple. With a quick bow, she hurried up to join the Wakka, Lulu, and Tidus up ahead.

They followed the same winding dirt path Tidus and Wakka had taken when they first arrived. When they reached the high cliff with the village down below, Yuna stopped. She walked to the edge of the cliff and stared at the village beneath. "Take your time." Lulu said kindly.

"Let's get going, man!" Tidus shouted. He was eager to get to the boat. No, he was eager to play blitzball.

Wakka folded his arms. "We're gonna wait. For Yuna." Yuna stared down at the small village for a long time. Finally she turned and gave Wakka a small smile. "You ready?" He asked. And when she nodded, they began walking the path to the beach again.

Lulu, Yuna, and Wakka walked over to a strange, tall, carved statue. It reminded Tidus of the ocean's waves. Wakka and Yuna knelt down in front of it and made the prayer gesture. Lulu did it hastily. "An ancient custom," Wakka explained. "People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip. Chappu didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss his boat." Tidus felt uncomfortable. He just watched. Eventually they finished and continued on their way.

They took a new path this time, "the long way," Wakka had explained. This path didn't lead to the bridges over the lagoon, this one wound through a forest, around old ruins, and next to a waterfall, so close the spray sprinkled the path.

When they walked through part of a forest so thick and full of ruins, the sunlight could barely get through, Tidus stopped and stared up at all the ruins. The forest seemed so peaceful. Nothing like in Zanarkand. He didn't even notic that Wakka, Lulu,a nd Yuna had walked further and further away from him.

A dull roar sounded suddenly rocked the tranquility. Tidus looked up and saw something, or someone, leaping from atop the ruins and into the trees. The roars became louder, and the figure dove down from the trees, landing in front of Tidus.

It was the beast that had been so protective of Yuna in the temple. His spear was clenched in his large, sharp-nailed fist. Anger surged in his yellow eyes. He let out a thunderous roar, then lunged at Tidus, spear pointed.

Tidus drew the sword Wakka gave him and raised it, blocking the blow. The beast tried again, raising the spear above his head, and swinging it down with a swoop. Tidus nimbly dodged it, and prepared to strike.

"That's enough!" Wakka walked towards them, Tidus put his sword down, feeling foolish. The beast shook his head and walked away, joining Yuna and Lulu who were waiting behind Wakka.

"Kimahri Ronso, of the Ronso tribe." Lulu explained. "He's learned the fiends way of fighting."

"He's another one of Yuna's guardians." Wakka added. This didn't surprise Tidus.

Yuna gave a giggle. "Sometimes we don't understand him, either. Kimahri doesn't talk much, anyway. But he's protected me ever since I was a child." Tidus understood. Kimahri had been Yuna's guardian all her life, he could see why he, and stranger, would be so concerning to Kimahri. They continued along.

The reached the beach. A somewhat boat, very different, and a little bigger, than the Al Bhed's, floated near the dock. Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri all climbed aboard without saying a word, or even looking at the crowd of villagers gathered on the beach. Tidus followed their lead, but Yuna walked slowly through the crowd, bowing at the people who gave her the prayer gesture. Most of them looked very sad, a few of the children were even crying. One little boy grabbed hold of Yuna's skirt and begged her not to go. Yuna softly patted his head and gave him a sad smile. Tidus was confused. Yuna would be coming back, wouldn't she? Why were they so upset? Would it take long to go on this pilgrimage? Questions flooded his mind.

Yuna boarded the vessel, joining Tidus and her guardians on the deck. She waved to the villagers, who all sadly waved back. The crewmen yanked up the anchor, and the boat began to sail to sea.

Yuna gave the villagers the prayer gesture, and the dock was growing furthey and further away. "Good-bye." She whispered. She stared until Besaid was only a small island in the distance.


	6. Kilika Sunset

**Please RnR!**

Chapter Six

Kilika Sunset

Tidus groaned with boredom. The sun beat down hot on the ship as it cut through the water. It was only noon. Wakka told Tidus that they wouldn't arrive until sundown. That was hours and hours away.

"Come to think of it," Wakka said about an hour into the journey. "First to Kilika Island, then we change boats and head for Luca. 'Fore that, though, Yuna's gotta pray at the temple. I'll be guarding. We'll be praying for the Aurochs' victory, too, so you come along, ya?"

He'd tried to amuse himself. He'd swiped a pair of binoculars from the look-out and used them to gaze at the passengers on the ship. Lulu had glared at him, and Yuna had waved enthusiastically, but no one else seemed to notice. He walked all over the ship, the deck, the cabin, everywhere, twice. He inhaled the salty sea air until he was dizzy. He counted the seconds it took for someone to walk by. And still. it didn't seem like any time was passing. It would be hours before they reached Kilika.

However, the below-deck power room was very interesting to him. "Wh-What the heck is that?" He exclaimed when he walked in. There were two large, yellow birds running on some sort of conveyor.

"Wh-What the heck is what?" The female engineer in the room asked, mocking him.

"What's with the big birds?"

The woman gave an odd laugh. "What's so strange about chocobo power?"

"Chocobos?" He repeated, the word sounding strange on his tounge. "Those are chocobos?"

"You've never seen a chocobo before?" The woman was obviously surprised. "What kind of backwater island did you come from?" Miracles and oddities seemed to be a daily routine on this trip.

He returned to the deck and found the summoner. Yuna stood at the front of the deck, Kimahri by her side, with the Aurochs and crewmen surrounding her. They talked stupidly, asking her questions, calling her, "Dear Lady Summoner." Tidus felt disgusted at their stupidity. Yet, one of the crewman said soemthing that stopped him dead.

"Word is, that's summoner's got noble blood!" The crewman was softly saying to another.

"I hear she's Lord Braska's daughter!" The other one responded.

"Lord Braska's...daughter?" The name was familiar. The statue of the summoner in the temple. The one who'd become "High Summoner" ten years ago.

"Is Yuna's father famous of something?" Tidus asked when he found Wakka and Lulu conversing near the cabin entrance.

"She's the daughter of High Summoner Braska, you saw his statue at the temple. Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago. Yuna's the heir to a great legacy!" Wakka said, proudly thinking of the summoner he was guarding.

Tidus thought of Jecht and sighed. "It's tough...when your father's famous."

Wakka gave him a slight, confused stare. "Wakka's...a bit lacking in the imagination department." Lulu explained.

Tidus chuckled. "Thanks, Lulu, I'll keep that in mind."

The crowd near Yuna was dispersing. The Aurochs had to practice, and the crewmen had to do their routine inspections on the ship. Yuna stood at the very front of the ship, if she fell forward, she would tumble from the boat and splash into the water. Kimahri stood protectively nearby. He decided to take this oppourtunity to talk with Yuna, like she'd asked him to.

When Yuna turned around and saw him coming, she flashed him a kind smile. "The wind...it's nice." She said softly, her ash-brown hair whipping in the sea breeze.

He tried tot hink of something to say, but only laughed at his stupidity. He then felt stupider. Luckily, Yuna laughed for no reason with him. "You're a blitzball player?" She asked. "From Zanarkand...right?"

"You hear that from Wakka?" Tidus asked. He sighed. "Wakka doesn't believe me at all."

"But, I believe you!" Yuna said excitedly. "I hear in Zanarkand, there is a great stadium, all lit up even at night!" She was smiling broadly, her eyes lost in a daydream. "Great blitzball tournaments are held there...and the stands are always full!"

"How do you know that?" Tidus asked, he had figured that the history of Zanarkand was lost with the destruction.

"A man named Jecht told me. He was my father's guardian."

The shock hit Tidus like one of the sea waves that lapped against the side of the ship. Jecht? Did she say Jecht? Not his father, right? Not his Jecht. 'He's dead.' Tidus reminded himself. 'It's not him. He's dead. He died in Zanarkand. He's never been here.'

"Jecht..." He repeated the name outloud, in disgust. "My...my father. His name was Jecht."

Yuna's eyes and mouth grew wide, and she jumped up in excitement. "Amazing!" She breathed happily. She graciously did the prayer gesture. "You know, our meeting like this, it must be a blessing of Yevon!"

Tidus pondered the thought in his head. Could it be his father. He hoped not. He enjoyed his life much more, knowing that his father was gone. Totally vanished. Assumed dead.

"It sounds like him. But it can't be."

Yuna frowned and tilted her head. "Why not?"

Tidus clamped his eyes shut and let the memory flood through and out into the open. "My old man, he died. Ten years ago off the coast of Zanarkand. He went out to sea for training one day, and never came back. And no one's seen him since then."

"I'm sorry." Yuna whispered. She looked disappointed. But it quickly faded, and more happiness took it's place on her face. "Why, that's the day that Jecht came to Spira!"

Tidus looked at her in shock. "It's true!" She added. "I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago! The date fits, doesn't it?" Tidus thought. Yuna was right. It was ten years and a little over three months since Jecht vanished. "I remember...that was the day my father left." Yuna said softly, staring at the sea.

Tidus tried to laugh off the revalation. "Yeah, but how could he get here?" He was only trying to convince himself that it wasn't him, but in his heart, he knew. He knew that the man Yuna spoke of was definetaly his father.

"Well," Yuna said. "You are here, are you not?" She chuckled softly, as Tidus thought it over. He didn't have time to reply before a lurch rocked the boat, not unlike the one that had signified Sin on the Al Bhed's ship.

The vessel rocked violently, and Yuna fell backwards in surprise. Tidus reached out and grabbed hold of her wrist, hoping to keep her from sliding off the boat. He held on tight, begging himself not to let her go against the brisk rocking of the boat.

A sudden jolt flung Yuna from his grip. She slid across the deck on her hands and knees towards the edge of the boat. With a squeal of fear, she grabbed hold of the handles of the harpoon launcher bolted to the deck. Kimahri sprinted over and grabbed Yuna's shoulders, pulling her away.

Waves as large as the boat itself crashed onto the deck, making it slippery and confusing. Tidus tried to stay ont he deck, but the water splashing made it too hard to stay calm and focused. And then he saw it. It was a fin. A huge, pointed fin, bursting from the water. It towered above the waves, it's size envying the height of the boat's mast. The owner of the fin was still underwater, but Tidus knew right away what it was. He'd seen it before with his own eyes, that horrible night in Zanarkand.

"Sin!" One of the crewmen screamed. The passengers and crew were in a panic. One crewman ran to the harpoon launcher where Yuna had grabbed on to save herself and prepared to fire.

"What do ya think you're doing?" Wakka screamed. "Stick a harpoon in it and we'll all get dragged under!"

"Sin's headed for Kilika. We've gotta destract it!" A crewman trying to hold footing on the slippery deck explained.

"Our families are in Kilika." Begged the man at the harpoon launcher. "Forgive us, Lady Summoner!" And then he fired. The harpoon dug sharply into Sin's fin, and it let out a thunderous roar of displeasure.

Sin suddenly burst in the opposite direction. The harpoon launcher was ripped from the deck of the boat, bolts flying, and it went sailing off, still attached to Sin's fin. The fin disappeared underwater, and the waters were calm once again.

The town of Kilika was a peaceful seaside town, built on along an inlet of the sea, forming a small bay. Beyond was a rich, tangled forest known as the Kilika Woods. Beyond was the Kilika Temple, a large, stone building, intricately made to look like a giant flame-like design. Eternal flames that were blessed so that they would never burn out shone brightly all around the temple. It was always calm. But on that one afternoon, Kilika would be calm no longer.

The massive tidal wave, similar to the one that had led to the destruction of Zanarkand was quickly approaching Kilika. By the time the residents noticed the wall of water, it was already too late. The wave crashed down. People ran in every direction, wondering why Sin would choose their peaceful village to destroy. Their little wooden houses all on the water were ripped up in seconds. Wood and other debris from the houses littered the air and floated down and into the water. So did many, many corpses. When Sin turned and left, all was peaceful once again.

When Sin attacked Zanarkand that day, Tidus woke up in Spira. He kept hoping it would work in reverse, too. He was just fooling himself. Maybe it was that day out on the sea, under the burning sun that he started to give up hope. He was in a foreign world, He wasn't going home. This was his new reality and he was stuck in it for good.

"I will defeat Sin," Yuna kept saying over and over again as the sun began to set, and the island of Kilika grew bigger as they grew closer. "I must defeat Sin."

The boat finally pulled into the port at Kilika just as the sky was beginning to grow a yellow orange. As soon as the crewmen lowered the ramp to disembark onto the port dock, Yuna ran and disembarked. Tidus frowned at the detroyed port town. "It's...not supposed to look like this, is it?" He asked Wakka.

"Let's go see what we can do to help in town." Wakka suggested. He and the Aurochs disembarked and ran off.

Yuna approached a man and woman waiting on the dock for the boat. "Greetings. I am the summoner Yuna. I have come from the temple in Besaid."

"M'lady Summoner!" The woman greeted. Both did the prayer.

"If there is no other summoner here, please allow me to perform the sending." Yuna asked, speaking calmly and assuredly, as though she was trying to fix the broken town with her words.

"Thanks be to ye!" The man said, looking at Yuna with the highest regard.

"Our loved ones," The woman said, a slight panic in her voice. "We feared that they would become fiends!"

"Please take me to them." Yuna said softly. They led her off along what was left of the smashed and splintered wooden walkways. Tidus, Kimahri, and Lulu followed.

They reached part of the walkway that stared into nothing but the calm, slightly moving ocean, and the softly setting sun which hung over the ocean, casting yellow and pink lights that danced on the water.

"What's a 'sending?' Are we going somewhere?" Tidus quietly asked Lulu once they were standing in front of the water where Yuna had been lead to, where most of the town seemed to be standing as well.

"You truly are clueless." Lulu said, her voice annoyed, "Are you sure it's just your memory that's the problem?" She stopped and pointed to Yuna, who was standing at the walkway's edge, near the water. Many of the villagers were in or near tears. In the water, and he felt strange for not noticing it before, were several dozen wooden body-shaped caskets. They were painted elegantly and adorned with bright tropical flowers. They were the ones Sin had killed. Their loved ones were the ones standing on the walkway in mourning.

"The dead need guidance." Lulu explained. "Filled with grief over their own death, some of them refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and may even begin to resent those still alive. You see, they envy the living. And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate." Lulu's face looked grave and solemn. "Should these soulds remain in Spira, they will become fiends that prey on the living. Sad, isn't it?" Tidus nodded, unsure of how to react. "The sending takes them to the Farplane, an eternal paradise, where they may rest in peace."

"Summoners do this?" Tidus asked, wondering how the whole thing would work.

"Hmm." Lulu said with a nod. They she gestured to Yuna, who had removed her black boots and was preparing to step into the water. She held her staff firmly in one of her hands. Kimahri stood near, on the walkway, arms folded, eyes watching.

But, she wasn't in the water, she was on top of it. Tidus couldn't have explained it. Soft ripples, similar to when raindrops dimple stillwater, resonated from the steps her pale feet took. Her back was turned to the mourners. She held her staff, pointed out to the side. She stood in the center of the caskets gathered underwater. Seeing her reminded Tidus of a water-lily, so delicate and beautiful, floating above the water, without a care in the world. Then, suddenly, she began to twirl, like dancing. Twirling her staff above her head, she danced atop the water, like she was alone, like no one was watching her. So confident, so graceful.

She danced longer, twirling her staff so it brushed the top of the water, as if blessing the underwater coffins. Finally, something happened. Out from underwater burst a strange sort of thing. It looked almost like a faint star in the night sky, only it floated heavenly around, following the direction of Yuna's staff. It glowed a strange sort of blue, pink, and yellow, and behind it it trailed a sort of energy, perhaps, Tidus thought. It made the world surrounding it blurry. He got a sense from it that it was actually a living thing. A creature of some kind. More of them had burst from the water, following Yuna's staff. As they all floating, they made a strange sound. Sort of like a choir, singing faintly, from far away.

Maybe it was from the magic of the sending, or maybe it was from the force of the glowing light creatures coming up from the water. Whatever it was, a small sort of geyser had begun to rise from the water, twirling as Yuna did, and she was atop it. The light creatures swirled around her. And something about the whole image was terrifying to Tidus.

Eventually, the geyser died. All the glowing light creatures had vanished. Yuna slowly sank into the water. She trudged through the water and climbed back onto the walkway. Kimahri walked protectively behind her as she approahed Tidus and Lulu.

"It must be tough...being a summoner." Tidus said, still in wonder and shock of what he'd just seen.

"Yuna chose her own path. She knew from the beginning what it meant. Lulu said in response. "All we can do is protect her along the way. Until the end."

"The end?" Tidus repeated. "What's the end?"

Lulu sighed and was visibly frustrated. "Until she defeats Sin." By then Yuna had approached them.

Lulu embraced the young summoner. "I hope...I hope I did okay." Yuna sounded so sad.

"You did very well." Lulu said in a calm, soothing voice, not at all the tone she used with Tidus. "They've reached the Farplane by now. But no tears next time, hm?" Yuna backed away from her guardian, and Tidus saw her face. It was red, streaked with soft tears. Her eyes were puffy. She gave Lulu an sad smile, and her and Kimahri turned and walked away.

He wished there would never be a next time. No more people getting killed by Sin. And that would hopefully mean, no more sendings for Yuna. Everyone had just stood there, watching her. It was so strange to him, and somehow horrifying. He never wanted to see it again.


	7. Tasks Of A Guardian

**Please RnR!**

Chapter Seven

Tasks of a Guardian

Sin's attack on Kilika destroyed a lot of things. It did not, however, destroy the Kilika Inn, which came in handy. All those who's homes had been destroyed sought refuge there. Tidus, Yuna, and her guardians also spent the night there. They planned to spend the next day going through the woods and paying a visit to Kilika Temple, and then they would board another boat and head for Luca for the blitz tournament.

"Besaid Aurochs, huddle!" Wakka's voice boomed throughout the busy town. People were all over, hammering boards into the broken walkways, comforting the wounded and mourning, and praying that Sin would leave their island alone from now on. The Aurochs and Tidus were helping to repair a destroyed fishing boat when they heard Wakka's call. Wakka smiled when they met him near the entrance clearing to the Kilika Woods. "On to the temple, where we pray for victory!" He exclaimed. "High Summoner Ohalland used to live in Kilika Temple here." Tidus found himself still unsure of what that term meant. "Yep." Wakka continued. "Lord Ohalland was once a great blitzer, you know?"

Tidus suddenly felt like the game was worthless. Staring at the broken town, he thought of Zanarkand, and he missed it terribly. "Wakka..." He started. "Praying for victory's all good, but is this right?"

Wakka made a stern face. "Something wrong with enjoying blitzball?"

"Is this really the time?" Tidus asked. This town needed more prayers than the Aurochs did.

"This is the only time!" Wakka cheered. "The players fight with all their strength: the fans cheer for their favorite team. They forget pain, suffering,only the game matters! That's why blitz has been around for so long." Wakka smiled. "Least that's what I think."

"Whatever you say." Tidus said reluctantly.

"Let's play." Wakka said encouragingly. "And win!" Tidus forced a small smile and Wakka and the team. "The temple's beyond this jungle here, Yuna, Lulu, and Kimahri are up ahead. Let's go!"

Yuna and Lulu were conversing at the beginning of an overgrown brick path cutting through a wild, humid jungle. "What's up?" Wakka asked, as he, Tidus, and the team approached.

Lulu heaved a sigh. "Yuna's saying," She said, unsuredly. "She wants you with us."

"I want to ask you to be my guardian." Yuna said shyly. She couldn't look neither Tidus nor Wakka in the eye.

"Yuna! What? This is no time for jokes, ya?" Wakka spoke. "He may be a blitzball whiz kid, but up against fiends, he's a newbie."

"Not a guardian then. I just want him nearby." Yuna whispered. Wakka made a surprised look.

"What? What do you mean?" Tidus was surprised. He'd only known Yuna for but a couple of days. Why did she want him to be a guardian all of a sudden?

"It's just that, well..." Yuna started.

"We're all going to the temple anyway." Lulu finished for her. "Can't this wait till later?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have." Yuna whispered.

Tidus brushed this off. "There's nothing to be sorry about, I'm just not sure what's going on."

"My apologies." Yuna spoke softly, yet she looked Tidus in the eye. He nearly jumped back. Her sudden burst from shyness had surprised him. Kimahri stepped up behind her.

They began to walk through the woods. It was hot and quiet. You wouldn't know you were on an island surrounded by a large ocean standing in that jungle. The path cut through, and it was made of rambling, uneven white bricks that were so overgrown that they seemed to just be part of the forest. A large stream wound through the jungle. As they approached a bridge leading over that such stream, they encountered Luzzu and Gatta, the Crusaders from Besaid. They explained to Yuna that they were preparing for a "secret mission against Sin" at a place called Mushroom Rock that might "make the summoner's lives a little easier." Yuna gave a nervous-sounding laugh at them.

Yuna attempted to excuse herself and her party from their presence and move onto the temple, but the Crusaders would not let her past. Gatta motioned to a large fiend not moving beyond the bridge. "It's sleeping right now."

The fiend was large and purple. It had several large leaves seeming to be growing from it, and four long, green tentacles. "The fiend before us is Ochu, Lord of the Wood." Luzzu explained. "We've had trouble with this one before."

"Are you kidding me?" Wakka exclaimed. "You claim to be able to drive away Sin, but can't even defeat a little...plant-forest-fiend?"

Gatta and Luzzu looked stunned for words. Lulu sighed. "Allow me." She said. Raising her arm slightly, she closed her eyes in concentraction. A wind seemed to pick up from nowhere, yet it only seemed to be hitting Lulu. She opened her eyes, smiled at the fiend, and something rocketed from the pointy tips of her fingernails. The fiend jumped up, howling in pain as a burst of flames hit is square in the stomach. Tidus was speechless.

"What did you just do?" He asked Lulu, who gave him a wry smile.

"Black magic." She explained. "A rare skill. _That _was a fire spell." She raised her arm slightly again. Another fire spell hit the fiend, which fell backwards, exploding in the same strange light-creatures that Tidus had seen during the sending.

"A summoner and her guardians." Luzzu said. "Very impressive."

"Sir! We should fight, too!" Gatta chirped.

Luzzu shook his head. "We'll get our chance soon enough." Both gave the prayer gesture, and continued on their way through the woods.

"So..." Tidus said, feeling awkward. "You can just do that?"

"Black magic, you mean?" Lulu's voice seemed full of a cocky sort of pride. "Like I said, it's a rare skill. Not everyone can 'just do that.' You must be born with the ability, and then it takes _years _of training." She turned and followed the path that Luzzu and Gatta had followed.

"There are certain types of magic that a person can cast." Yuna was explaining to him as they headed through the woods. "Black magic and white magic are the most common types. Black magic is a damaging magic that uses the four elements, Water, Fire, Blizzard, and Lightning whereas white magic is healing magic." Tidus nodded, beginning to understand a little. "You have to be born with the ability to cast black magic, like Lulu was. Since it requires special training to learn to cast it right. White magic can be learned, as I have done."

"So, you can cast white magic, Yuna?" Tidus asked.

Yuna nodded. "It was part of my training...to become a summoner. It wasn't that hard. Maybe I can teach you sometime."

"That'd be great!" He smiled.

Yuna grinned. "I don't think the temple's much further." They continued along the path.

Eventually, the woods began to thin out, and they reached a tall set of wide, moss-covered, stone steps. "These stone steps have a history, you know? Yep, Lord Ohalland trained here at his peak."

The steps were very high, and led up to the temple, which was built on a plateued ledge on a cliffside, and out of the jungle. "Bet I could beat ya to the top." Wakka said, teasingly.

"A race, huh? Think you can beat me?" Tidus took a place at the foot of the stairs.

"Yuna, if you would?" Yuna stood at the first step.

"Ready...?" Yuna put her arm up, preparing to signify the beginning of the race. Then, with a giggle, she ran up the stairs, leaving them standing, waiting for her signal.

"Hey!" Wakka and Tidus shouted after Yuna, and ran her path. Tidus was disapointed. Wakka was much faster than he, and took a large lead. But, near the top of the stairs, he stopped, and he and Yuna ran back in a panic.

"Everyone! Quick! Sinspawn!" The word sounded vaugely familiar to Tidus. He raced up the stairs, yanking the sword Wakka gave him from it's scabbard, he heard Lulu and Kimahri racing up behind him.

At the top of the stairs was what looked like a big, gray rock. Suddenly, up from the ground burst two, humongous appendages. They were like long, thin, green hands, with whip-like fingers.

"Lulu!" Wakka cried. "Those tentacles might be able to protect the body, take them out with some spells! Me, Kimahri, and Tidus will attack the body head-on, and Yuna, you stand back in case we need you to heal, and once we get it weakened, call your aeon!" He ordered, directing the party to their standing points.

Lulu raised her arm slightly and hit one of the arms with a fire spell, and then another. This arm flopped to the ground, and was pulled back under to whence it came. She repeated the process with the other arm.

Wakka hit the Sinspawn body hard, Tidus and Kimahri followed suit. Once Lulu caused the other arm to fall, the big, gray, rock burst open, and there stood a fiend. The rock was only it's shell. "Keep hitting it!" Wakka ordered. Tidus struck it again with his sword, as Lulu pummeled it with a fire spell. "Yuna, now!" Wakka called.

Yuna raised her staff, holding it out towards her side, as she had done in Besaid. Out from the clouds burst the beast, Valefor. It thunderously hit the ground, and Yuna stroked it's beak, pointing with her staff at the Sinspawn. Valefor flew forward and slashed it with it's sharp talons. The Sinspawn exploded in the same strange light-creatures, and Valefor flew back to the heavens.

"Whew!" Tidus was out of breath.

"Sorry about that! Hoped to break you in a little slower." Wakka said apologetically.

"Being a guardian's tiring!"

"You handled yourself pretty well. You got talent."

Tidus was regaining his strength. "So, what are these sinspawn anyway?"

"Fiends." Lulu explained. "They fall from Sin's body, and are left behind in its wake."

"Leave 'em alone, and Sin comes back for 'em." Wakka added. "You gotta be quick!" They continued up towards the temple. "So, uh...they got fiends in Zanarkand, too?"

"Just a few." Tidus told him. "It's a big deal when one shows up, though." Then, the realization of what Wakka just said hit him hard. "Hey! Since when have you believed me about Zanarkand, anyway?"

"I been thinking." Wakka said. "Maybe people Sin gets to don't die. Maybe Sin carries 'em through time. Like a thousand years through time. And then, one day, maybe they just pop back, see?"

Lulu stopped and chuckled a little. "Amazing. Simply amazing. You make up one theory after another, refusing to face the simple truth." Lulu looked at Wakka threateningly. "Sin didn't take Chappu anywhere. Sin crushed him and left him on the Djose shore. Your brother won't just pop back." She started walking again, but then stopped. "Oh, and one more thing, no matter how much you want it, no one can take Chappu's place. No one can replace Sir Jecht, for that matter. And there's no replacement for Lord Braska, either. It's pointless to think about it, and sad." She headed up to the temple, and Kimahri and Yuna followed.

Wakka sighed. "I...I could never be what Chappu was." He made a forced smile. "Well, stuff happens. Best not to worry." He followed the path up to the temple. He knew it. Wakka, Lulu, and Wakka's brother Chappu. Something had happened between them a long time ago. He was sure of it. Well, whatever it was, it was none of his business, that was for sure. Best not to go there.

Kilika Temple was a tall, incricate building. Right at the foot of the structure was a large, glass-covered pit in the ground. In the pit burned a huge bonfire. At the entrance to the temple were stairs leading down. As they approached them, up from the stairs walked three men. They were all wearing the same identical purple uniform. They were tall, too, and muscular. 'Blitzball players?' Tidus wondered.

"You here to pray for victory, too?" Wakka asked as they passed.

"Us? Pray?" One of the men asked. "Who needs to pray? The Luca Goers always win!"

"Oh, yeah?" Wakka asked. "Then why are you here?"

"We've been praying for some competition this year." One of the other men said, sarcastically.

"So what's your goal this time? You gonna "do your best" again?" The first man laughed. "Ha! It's too bad your best isn't good enough! Why even bother showing up?"

Tidus knew that these were probably a very tough team for the Aurochs. "This time, we play to win!" He cheered.

"Oooh! Play away! Just remember even kids can play, boys." The men laughed amonst themselves and walked into the jungle.

"See you in the finals!" Wakka called after them, and, with a smug look on his face, he walked into the temple, Lulu and Kimahri on his heels.

Tidus hated cocky players like that. He'd known tons of them in Zanarkand. He was better than most of them anyway, but it still bothered him. "We'll beat them. We have to!"

Yuna frowned. "You know that team?"

"Putting people down," Tidus blurted out. "They're as bad as my old man!"

"But, Sir Jecht was a kind and gentle man!" Yuna said, shocked at what he'd said.

"Well, not my Jecht." Tidus gave Yuna a frown. She sighed and followed into the temple.

The temple was bright, all full of glowing torches. The same statues lined the room. He recognized the one of Lord Braska, as it was the newest looking one, by the staircase leading to the Chamber of the Fayth. Wakka was kneeling, praying by another statue of a strong-looking man.

"Lord Ohalland, guide our feet!" Wakka was praying, bowing and making the prayer gesture towards the statue. Tidus watched with interest as the rest of the group prayed as well.

The stone door to the Chamber of the Fayth opened, and out walked a tall, dark-skinned woman in a white dress, followed by a large, muscular man with a stupified espression on his face. She looked at Yuna from the top of the stairs and approached her.

"A summoner are you?" She asked rudely.

"Yes." Yuna responded. "My name is Yuna, from the Isle of Besaid."

"Dona." The woman introduced herself. "So, you're High Summoner Braska's daughter. That's quite a name to live up to. And my, my, my." She eyed the group. "All these people are your guardians? My, what a rabble! As I recall, Lord Braska had only two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever were you thinking?" Yuna's face blushed slightly, but she seemed to brush it off. "I have need of only one guardian. Right, Barthello?" The stupid-looking man stepped forward.

"I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust. I trust them all with my life!" Yuna said firmly. "To have so many guardians is a joy, and an honor! Even more so than being my father's daughter." Dona looked perturbed. "Of course, I would never think of questioning your ways, either. So, Lady Dona, I ask of you: please leave us in peace."

Dona rolled her eyes. "You do what you want." She turned to her guardian. "Barthello, we're leaving." She turned on her heel and sauntered from the temple.

A guardian was someone a summoner could rely on. Someone she could trust with her life. He wondered, did Yuna feel that way about him? She abruptly smiled. "Let's go!" She called to her guardians, and they approached the Chamber of the Fayth.

Inside of the door was a lift, similar tot eh one leading to the chamber in Besaid. "The fayth is below. Let's do it!" Wakka cheered.

"Kimahri, Wakka, ready?" Lulu asked. The entire group, including Tidus boarded the lift.

"Strength everyone!" Yuna smiled, as Kimahri pushed Tidus from the lift. He stumbled foward, nearly hitting the door.

"Hey, what gives?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

"You're not a guardian yet." Lulu explained. Tidus suddenly remembered Wakka's words. _Only summoners, apprentice summoners and their guardians were allowed in._

"Um, we'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Yuna said, unsuredly, as the lift went down.

"Oh, sure, soon." Tidus frowned and sighed. "Like 'tomorrow' soon, I bet."

The door behind him opened, and back in walked Dona and Barthello. "What are you doing here?" He started to ask, but Dona didn't answer him.

"Where's Yuna?" She asked, and Tidus pointed to the lift, which had just returned to it's place in front of Tidus. "Then, why are you here?"

"Hey, I'm not a guardian, so I'm not supposed to go in, right?" Dona looked intrugued by this.

"Not a guardian, you say?" She looked at Barthello and smiled. Bathello walked up and scooped up Tidus, dropping him back down atop the lift.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" He demanded.

Dona's mouth turned up into a sly smile. "Just a little game." She said cheerfully. The lift went down, with Tidus on it.

"No!" Tidus squealed, knowing he was in trouble. "This is bad, really bad." The lift reached the bottom, and he decided he would simply wait until it went back up, but it never did. 'Maybe I'll just wait by the door.' He thought to himself, looking at the door leading into the chamber. He approached it, and the lift went up behind him. "No!" He shouted, but it was too late, the lift was well on it's way back up. He was stuck.

He sighed as he looked at the door. "Only guardians allowed, and I'm sure no guardian. Well, I guess it's too late now." With a heavy heart, he opened the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wakka and Lulu ran over to Tidus, annoyed looks on their faces.

"It was Dona and that big musclehead man!" Tidus tried to explain.

"Yuna will be the one to face the concequences." Lulu said sternly.

"She could be excommunicated!" Wakka added. Tidus felt a worried feeling in the pit of his stomach. "But don't worry, I'm sure with you being near Sin and all, it'll be okay, right?" Lulu nodded in agreement.

At the far end of the chamber was a big, stone door, just like the one in Besaid. "What's in there, anyway?"

"The fayth," Wakka told him. "Remember?"

"Oh yeah." Tidus said, feigning rememberance. "That thing, right."

"The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still-living bodies." Lulu explained. "Now they live forever, trapped in statues. But when a summoner beckons, the souls of the fayth emerge once again. That's what we call an aeon."

"Oh!" Tidus said suddenly. "The people in Besaid, they said that that beast thing that Yuna summoned was the 'aeon from the fayth of Valefor.'"

"Right." Wakka told him. "The fayth in Besaid was once the high priestess of Besaid Temple, Valefor, but Yevon decided her fit for an aeon."

Tidus was in awe. "All in that room? So, what's Yuna doing in there?"

"She prays with all her heart for a way to defeat Sin." Wakka explained.

"The chamber beyond is a sacred place. Only summoners may enter." Lulu added.

"What, even guardians can't go?" Tidus was surprised, but then, why would they all be waiting outside?

"It's taboo!" Wakka informed him.

In that room, Tidus heard something. It was a strange song, he didn't know who was singing it. But it was beautiful, and it sounded far away. It seemed familiar, as if he'd heard it many times before, but he couldn't place it.

As Yuna staggered out of the chamber, he remembered. That song he heard there, in the temple, he knew it from his childhood. It was proof that Spira and Zanarkand were connected somehow. At least to him it was. Maybe that's why, suddenly, he felt like he just wanted to go home. He tried to say something, to tell them. But the words wouldn't come.

When they exited the temple, a group of people giving prayers and onlookers surrounded Yuna. "Did you recieve the aeon?" One asked

"I heard it is of the Warrior Ifrit!" Another added.

Yuna smiled, taking in all of their compliments. This was all familiar to Tidus. He remembered the days back in Zanarkand, which seemed so far away from him now, even though it he'd spent less than a week in Spira, when fans would mob him on his way to blitzball games. And now, here he was. Nobody knew him. Nobody recognized him here. He thought he'd put his feelings for Zanarkand behind him. At least he tried to. But yet, there they were, and they grew inside of him, bigger and bigger, till he was just about ready to burst. He pushed through the crowd and waited for Yuna and the rest of the group at the top of the stairs.

"Are...are you okay?" Yuna's voice was concerned beside him.

He didn't even acknowledge her. "I...I don't know." It was true. He didn't think he could last here in Spira. Not much longer.

"What do you want to do?" Yuna asked, still concern in her kind voice.

Tidus thought for a moment. "To scream real loud." He felt it coming up inside of him, as though the words cast a spell upon him. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" He screamed as loud as he could, causing a giggle from Yuna and some strange looks from Kimahri, Wakka, and Lulu.

They made their way back through the jungle, into the town, which was already starting to come together nicely with lots of progress made, and towards the dock where a boat, similar to the one that brough them from Besaid to Kilika was waiting.

"Off to Luca at last!" Wakka cheered. The sun was setting softly on the sea. "The matches start soon as we get there, so rest up on the way, ya?" They boarded the boat, and it set sail just as it was getting dark.

It was nearly midnight, yet all of the boat seemed full of action. Wakka had explained to him that there would be six teams competing for the Crystal Cup: The Besaid Aurochs, The Kilika Beasts (Who had been getting most of their last bit of strength training from helping to fix their city), The Luca Goers (The defending champions), The Al Bhed Psyches, The Ronso Fangs, and The Guado Glories. Tidus didn't seem worried. 'Only six teams?' Tidus wondered. 'How strange.'

Wakka and Lulu had taken a place on the lookout platform above the deck, they seemed to be just chatting. Yuna was standing at the front of the boat, surrounded by admiring crewmen, as usual. Tidus decided he would go down into the cabin and get some rest. By morning they'd be in Luca. But as he walked by the steps leading up to the lookout platform, he caught an earful of Lulu and Wakka's conversation.

"Well, say something." Lulu's voice was full of a slight bitterness. "You'll take responsibility?"

"Relax! He's bound to know someone in Luca." Wakka was saying assuredly. Tidus realized they were talking about him. He gently climbed the steps halfway to continue listening to their conversation.

"And if not?" Lulu demanded.

"He could always join a blitz team. Anyhow, it's better than just leaving him in Besaid!"

"What?" Lulu asked, the annoyance growing in her voice. "Just leaving him in Luca?"

"What do you want me to do?"

Lulu frowned and gazed out to the sea. "Yuna wants to make him a guardian."

"Oh yeah, geez... There's that too, eh?" Was Wakka's only response.

"And who's fault is that?"

"Not mine!" Wakka blurted, but then he sighed. "It is mine, huh?" He admitted. "Why do you think she wants to make him a guardian, anyway?"

"Because he's Sir Jecht's son." Lulu said, seeming as though she hardly believed it.

"You sure 'bout that? He's really Sir Jecht's son?" Wakka didn't seem like he believed it either.

"It's hard to say." Lulu said, looking down at the summoner she was guarding. "But Yuna seems to believe so."

"Okay." Wakka said firmly.

"'Okay?' '_Okay?'_ Is that all you have to say?" The annoyance in her voice reached an all-time high.

"He's gotta decide for himself, ya? Well, him and Yuna, I guess."

"You're right, for once." Lulu said bitterly. "I wonder which is best." She stared off into the horizon for a few moments. "Why don't you tell him he should?" She suggested.

"Should what?"

Lulu sighed. "Become Yuna's guardian."

"Why me?"

"Because Yuna can't."

"Why not?"

"He hates his father, or so Yuna tells me. What he was, and what he did. How can she possibly say to him, 'I want you to be my guardian, like your father was to mine?'" Lulu informed him.

"I'll try talking to him after the tournament." Wakka said.

"Be discreet." Lulu warned.

"I know. It's his decision." Wakka looked at the ground. "He doesn't like his father?"

"Apparently. He told Yuna as much."

"Hating your own father, huh? Sounds like a luxury to me." Wakka's voice grew sad. "I don't even remember my parents. Can't say how I feel about 'em."

Lulu looked down at the ground as well. "I..." Her voice was filled with tinges of pain. "I was five then, so I remember mine a little."

"Dammit!" Wakka punched at the ground. "Sin, just takes everything away from us!"

Tidus walked down the steps and found Yuna at the front of the boat, Kimahri by her side, surrounded by crewmen, and, much to his dismay, some members of the Luca Goers, headed to the tournament.

"Whatcha all talking about?' He asked.

They all turned. Yuna smiled and waved. "Who are you supposed to be?" One of the Goers asked.

"Ah, I remember him. Guy from Kilika." Another told him. "You know, one of the Besaid Aurochs. Said something about winning the cup."

"Oh, right. You're that idiot." The first said with a chuckle.

"Don't call him that!" Yuna's voice was tense, but firm. Her face held an expression of anger.

"But he is an idiot. They don't got what it takes to win the cup." He laughed, along with the other Goers.

"Well, they do now that I'm here!" Tidus chirped.

"Yes, they will win!" Yuna said excitedly. "He used to be the star player of the Zanarkand

Abes!"

The Goers looked at Yuna strangely. "Yeah, as if anyone lived in those ruins." One said.

"It's not ruins," Yuna protested. "There's a big city there! There is!"

"I got to close to Sin and-" Tidus started the whole routine over again.

"There is a city, really!" Yuna interuppted.

"Right." Said a Goer sarcastically. "Whatever Your Ladyship says." They giggled and muttered to themselves as they walked to the otherside of the boat and down into the cabin. Yuna sighed, and turned to watch the ocean.

He began to follow them, realizing that he had to sleep. Yet, on the far end of the deck, on the back end of the boat, he noticed something lying there. A blitzball. Same blue and white color as the ones in Zanarkand. It comforted him somehow. A memory clogged his vision.

When he was younger, and Jecht was still around, he'd once tried to do his father's signature shot. He was running forward, trying to kick it when Jecht started laughing.

"Well, well. Trying to follow in my footsteps, are you? I usually charge for lessons, you know. And _that _is done like this!" He kicked the ball straight at the wall, where it bounced back at him. He punched it back with his head, and then with his fist when it came back again, which shot it up into the air. He jumped up after the ball, did a spin into a kick, and kicked the ball forcefully, sending it soaring off into the distance. "You can't do it, kid." He'd said, once he hit the ground. "But don't worry, my boy. You're not the only one. No one else can do it. I'm the best!"

_"I'm the best!"_ Jecht's words echoed in Tidus's mind. He kicked the ball at the outside wall of the cabin and performed the shot exactly, just as he knew he could.

"The best? Yeah, right." He laughed, the ball was still soaring off into the horizon.

"Woah!" A voice startled Tidus, he turned and saw Wakka, followed by the entire Aurochs team, standing nearby, mouths agape, eyes in amazement. "What's that called?"

Tidus shrugged and lied. "Doesn't have a name."

"Show us one more time, ya?" Wakka begged. Yuna was now standing with the Aurochs, eager to see too. Tidus did as he was told, and once he finished, he saw Yuna standing next to him.

"That was the Jecht Shot, wasn't it?" She giggled.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"Sir Jecht showed it to me when I was a child." She stood in front of the railing, looking down at the water. Tidus took a place next to her. "He called it the 'Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III.'"

Tidus laughed. "Stupid name, huh?" Yuna smiled. "You know what? There is no Mark I or Mark II, you know?" He added. "My old man said the name Mark III was just something to hook the crowd. He said they'd come back every night expecting to see Mark I

and Mark II. And, they really did come back. I used to get so mad." He sighed. "Is he alive, you think?"

"I don't know. But, Sir Jecht was my father's guardian."

"So he's famous here, too." Tidus said sadly.

"Yes. So if anything happened to him, I should think word would get around fast." She looked at him eagerly. "What would you do, if you found him?"

"Who knows? I thought he died ten years ago." Tidus thought for a moment. "I'd probably

just smack him one. After everything he put Mom and me through. And because he was famous, I was always...well, you should know, Yuna. Your father's famous, too. Everyone in Spira knows him, right? Ain't it tough?"

"It is hard to follow in his footsteps, as a summoner." Yuna said. "But the honor of having a father like him surpasses all that, I think."

"Well, there wasn't much to honor about my old man, that's for sure."

"You shouldn't say that about your father!" Yuna scolded, with a smile.

"I got the right!"

"I guess you do." Yuna said softly.

Tidus was suddenly hit in the back fo the head with a blitzball. "Time for bed kiddos!" Wakka called, standing at the door of the cabin. They both walked over, exhausted from the long day.

He didn't think Jecht would come to Luca. He never did like watching other people play. But he couldn't help feeling something bad was gonna happen. And those feelings were usually

right. He had told Wakka he'd help him win the tournament. But hewasn't sure he had it in him anymore.


	8. The Blitz City

**GAH! It's been too long! I'm sorry, for the lack of updates, **

**This summer's been an overkill...**

**Ha-ha. Overkill. Final Fantasy. Ha-ha.**

**R&Rs, I would appreciate!**

Chapter Eight

The Blitz City

Tidus was in awe. The city of Luca was huge. 'Finally!' He thought. 'A city, not a little town!' As the boat approached the landing dock, Tidus stood on the deck gazing at the city, a big smile upon his face. The city was massive, probably nearly as big as Zanarkand, and chock-full of people There were tall buildings, a long stretch of road, leading out atop the ocean, where the large stadium sat. Tidus's smile stretched wider when he saw that.

"Ah! Over there! The ships carrying the players are arriving now!" An announcer's voice boomed all over the city. Tidus was reminded of Zanar, the great announcer of the Zanarkand Abes. "All the way from Kilika, it's the Kilika Beasts!" The announcer cried as the Kilika team was the first to exit the ship among cheers of fans standing nearby. "High Summoner Ohalland used to play for them, a big name to live up to." He added. "And Sin attacked their hometown recently, right Jimma?"

"Yes, Bobba." Said another announcer, the one named Jimma. "They're going to be pulling out all the stops to try and bring back the cup this year."

"Exciting, isn't it, folks?" The first announcer, Bobba said happily. "Our next team off the ramp is...well, well, well! If it isn't the Besaid Aurochs!"

Tidus, Wakka, and the rest of the Aurochs stepped off the boat, and were greeted by slight snickers from the crowd. "They're a living, breathing, statistical impossibility! I've never seen a team this bad!" Bobba exclaimed. "That's right! In twenty-three years they've never made it past the first round! Only a few die-hard fans are in the audience today."

"Best of luck to them, and a safe journey back to Besaid." Jimma commented.

"Moving right along, our next team is...here they are, folks! Our very own Luca Goers!" Bobba said enthusiastically. The Goers jogged athetically off the boat amid shouts and wild cheers. The slightly-large crowd gathered on the dock were going wild. "They've got power! They've got speed! They've got teamwork! They're an all-around first-class team! And they're back home in Luca!"

"Without a doubt, they are the favorite this year, Bobba." Jimma informed the crowd. "And after the way they dominated last year, it'd take a miracle for them to lose today!"

"You can say that again, Jimma. Look at the crowd, folks! Look at the crowd! Looks like all of Luca has turned out to cheer the Goers on!" Bobba said. They know, I know, and you know, folks! The Luca Goers are number one!"

Tidus stood with the Aurochs, who were smiling brightly. He couldn't believe them. He was beyond annoyed. "It's like this every year, ya? Don't let it bother you." Wakka said, trying to sound happy.

He sighed. This wasn't what he'd expected. The Aurochs only had a few fans. He was used to being the most cheered for. With anger he looked at the Goers, who were soaking in the glory, smiles on their smug faces.

On the dock was a pile of crates, probably shipped there from somewhere else. But, what was atop the crates caught his interest. It was a megaphone, probably abandoned by whoever was commanding the crate shipping. An idea, though a stupid one, popped into his head. He strolled over to the crates.

"Stop right there, Goers!" The Goers, and the crowd turned, and saw Tidus, standing on the crates, shouting happily into the megaphone. "You guys are smilin' now, but not for long! 'Cause this year, us Aurochs are taking the cup!" He gave a wicked-sounding laugh, causing the fans and the Goers to snicker, and Wakka to cover his face with his hand, half with embarrassment for Tidus, half with embarrassment for himself.

"What in Yevon's name were you doing up there?" Wakka demanded when Tidus climbed from the crates. Commotion began among the fans.

"Maester Mika is here!" A man shouted, appearing from the entrance to the dock.

"Already?" A woman asked.

"The number 3 dock!" Another man exclaimed. The crowd moved hastily from the dock and into the city.

"What's up?" Tidus asked, confused.

"Maetser Mika has arrived, that's what." Yuna said, informantly. She, Lulu and Kimahri had just stepped from the boat.

"Mika? Maester?" More new things for him to learn. Tidus was nearly used to it.

"Maester Mika is the leader of all the peoples of Spira." Lulu explained. "He's come all the way from Bevelle. The tournament is being held this year to honor his fifty years as maester."

"Fifty years? Shouldn't he be, uh, retired by now?" In Zanarkand, not many people worked passed that age.

Hey! Mind your mouth, now." Wakka warned.

"Let's all go see him!" Yuna said excitedly. She ran into the city, her guardians and Tidus following.

The city of Luca was spherical-shaped, the top of it attatched to the other lands, and it probably symbolized the blitzball that went on there. Large buildings were everywhere. Surrounding the circle were a dozen or so docks, so many people could easily come in and out.

The number three dock was right nearby the dock where they had landed. A crowd of people had all ready gathered there.

"Can't see an thing!" Tidus said grudgingly.

Suddenly, loud, happy music began to play. A band of people in strange costumes stepped from the boat and stood at attention in a line, still playing their instruments.

Behind them stepped three men. Tidus had seen some strange things in Spira, but those people might have been the strangest. The first man was tall. He wore regal-looking purple robes. His hair was blue, but resembled the shape of a sort of flame. There were large peices of hair, also blue, straight , sticking out slightly from the rest of his hair, and longer. He had a very prim, proper appearance. The other two men looked similar, but they were stranger than the first man.

They were very long and gangly. They had long arms with long hands and fingers, so long the tips touched their knees. They had long, pointy ears, and long, flappy eyelashes. They wore skintight green outfits, with collars nearly hiding their mouths They wore soft shoes, but their toes were so long they made indentions in the shoe. Their hair didn't seem to be like that of a humans. Rather than falling in thousands of strands, it fell in about a dozen solid thick chunks of hair. One had hair in a greenish-algae colored tint, the others was in a purple shade, the same color as the mountains in the distance in Zanarkand. The blue-haired man looked slightly different than them, but he couldn't place why.

The purple haired man, and the green haired man turned to face the boat and did the prayer gesture, while the blue-haired man did the prayer gesture, dropping to his knees in a worshipful bow.

"Those are Guado, right?" A man standing near Tidus asked his lady companion.

"Isn't that Maester Seymour?" Another man asked. Tidus felt the same emotion he'd felt so often the past few days: confusion.

A group of men in armor and holding rifles with pointy bayonets marched from the boat and stood at attention witht he musicians. Behind them walked a short, old man. So old he was hunched over and walked with a handsomely carved walking-stick. His face held many years of wrinkles, and he had a thick, white beard. Clothed in red and black robes, he walked down onto the dock and smiled broadly at the crowd gathered befor him. Everyone in the crowd did the prayer gesture and bowed graciously. Except for Tidus, who didn't have much of an idea as to what was going on.

"People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome." The old man, Maester Mika said happily. "Rise, Maester Seymour, and all of you as well." The strange men who'd been described as Guados rose. "I present to you the son of Maester Jyscal Guado, who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past. As some of you already know, he has been officially ordained a maester of Yevon."

The Guado with the blue-hair turned to the crowd. "I am Seymour Guado." He spoke in a rich, proud tone. "I am honored to receive the title of maester." He continued. "In life, my father Jyscal worked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy, and to fulfill my duties as maester to the best of my abilities." He smiled and the crowd made whispers of approval.

Maester Mika turned from the crowd and, followed by the men with the rifles, walked through the city towards the stadium, where he would be making an introductory speech.

Seymour, however stayed right where he was, his Guado companions near him. He followed the crowd with his eyes, finally stopping on where Yuna and her guardians stood. He flashed them a charming smile, and walked over to them.

"You are the summoner everyone's been talking about, aren't you?" He asked kindly.

Yuna seemed very shaken. "Y-yes. I am Summoner Yuna. I hail from Besaid."

"Ah. So you are Lord Braska's daughter." Seymour smiled. "I must be going to the stadium to meet with Lord Mika. Farewell, Lady Yuna. I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you, Your Grace." Yuna whispered, throwing herself into a prayer gesture. Seymour turned and left with his companions.

"Lulu, Kimahri, let's go explore the city!" Yuna smiled cheerfully.

"What about us?" Tidus asked.

"We have to go get ready for the tournament. Really psyches you up, seeing Maesters here and all. Come on, I'll show you to where we have to go." Wakka told him, motioning for him to follow.

Nearby was the grand entrance to the stadium, with a small, out of the way ramp leading down into the team locker rooms. Wakka directed Tidus to the Aurochs Locker Room. "Here it is, the team should be in there." Wakka turned and started to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Tidus called, but he'd all ready left.

"Where's Wakka going?" Tidus asked the Aurochs, who all sat, looking defeated in the locker room.

"The match-up draws." An Auroch explained.

"We had to play the Goers in the first match last year." Another Auroch said sadly.

"The year before that, and the one before that, too!"

"Well, we would've lost to anyone anyway." The Aurochs goalkeeper said, informatively.

Tidus took a seat with the Aurochs, trying to psyche himself up. He hadn't even practiced blitz in nearly a week. Did he have a game in him? He almost didn't notice Wakka walk in, a triumphant smile on his face.

The Aurochs sprung to their feet, begging to know their outcome. "We're playing the Al Bhed Psyches first!" He cheered. "It's unbelievable! We got seeded! Just two wins, and we're the champs!"

They all cheered, realizing that, if they beat the Psyches, which Wakka informed Tidus didn't have much space to practice, they would have a slim chance of winning. Tidus hadn't seen Wakka look happier. Suddenly, Yuna burst in, a giddy smile upon her face, followed by Lulu, who also looked very happy, and Kimahri.

"There you are!" Yuna chirped, running over to Tidus. "Guess what? Someone said they saw Sir Auron in the café!"

Tidus couldn't believe his ears. "Au-Auron?" He repeated in disbelief. He hadn't though much about the man. Not since he first ended up in Spira. But now he wondered. Was it the same Auron? And how did Yuna know him?

"Yes, Sir Auron." Yuna said matter-of-factly. "Let's go find him!" Yuna ran to the door where Kimahri was waiting. Tidus followed. He had to see if it was the Auron he knew.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! The game starts like real soon!" Wakka called after them. "Come back quick, ya?"

Yuna nodded. Tidus smiled. "Hey, I'll be back." Wakka's happiness had suceeded. He looked nervous, and his face was in a knot.

"Hey, Wakka. You're stiff, man." Wakka made a forced smile. Tidus shook his head. "No, no, not your face. Just breathe out, relax. Like this. Just breathe, yeah!"

Yuna giggled, as Wakka was breathing vigourously and heavily. "Come on!" She cheered eagerly. "Are you coming Lulu?"

Lulu shook her head. "I'll make sure Wakka stays sane before the game. But hurry back. And stick together!" She called after them as they walked out the door.

"Maybe now we can find Sir Jecht." Yuna said happily as they exited the locker room, Kimahri at their heels.

"How?" Tidus asked.

"Sir Auron was also my father's guardian, so he might know where Sir Jecht is." Yuna said. "Let's go now!"

Yuna ran off, Kimahri after her. Tidus followed. Nearby stood two men. Both wore black shirts and red shorts. They had blonde hair, but also they wore goggles. The goggles gave it away.

"Y myto summoner! Fa sicd nabund." ((A lady summoner! We must report.)) One whispered to the other.

"Hey!" Tidus called to them. "Al Bhed Psyches, right?" They stared at him, with no recognation. "Some Al Bhed saved me the other day, This girl Rikku gave me food and..." His voice trailed off. They seemed to be unable to understand. "Uh, anyway, if you meet Rikku, tell her thanks for me. Oh, and as for the first game? May the best team win!" He smiled and went to join Yuna.

A crowd had started outside of the stadium. A woman holding a microphone stood in the crowd, a man holding a large, blue camera in front of her. "This tournament looks to be one of the best ever." The woman was saying. "And the spectators joined here are record high!"

"I'm sorry." Yuna said softly as she pushed through the crowd, Tidus and Kimahri behind her. "Please let me through." The crowd sort of parted, and they walked through.

Another crowd was beyond them. Yuna stopped to think for a moment, as Tidus and Kimahri made their way through. "I hope we don't get seperated..." Yuna whispered to herself. Looking around, she realized that that had just happened. She searched with her eyes frantically through the crowd.

"Yuna!" Tidus was jumping up and down and waving on the other side of the crowd. She smiled once she saw him. He put his fingers in his mouth and made a shrill whistle that shocked Yuna.

"What was that?" She asked once she'd pushed through the crowd.

Tidus laughed. "In Zanarkand, we do this to cheer on blitz players." He put his fingers in his mouth again, making the whistle. "You try it, too! But your fingers in your mouth like this."

Yuna slowly put her fingers in her mouth. "Like this?" She asked in a muffled tone.

"Yeah! Now you just blow."

Yuna blew hard twice, and nothing happened. The only sound was of her blowing air. "It's not working." She giggled.

"Practice!" Was Tidus's advice. "Hey, use that if we get seperated. Then I'll come running, okay? Well, guess we should just stick together, then, till you can do it?"

"Yessir!" Yuna grinned. They continued to the center of the city, pushing through more crowds.

"This is a pretty big town!" Tidus exclaimed when they reached the center of town, a large circle of shops and people.

"Luca is the second largest city in Spira." Yuna explained.

"I thought every town was little, you know, like Besaid and Kilika."

"Towns don't usually get bigger than that." Yuna said sadly. "Because when a lot of people start to gather-"

"Sin?" Tidus asked, inturrupting. Yuna nodded. "What about Luca?" He asked. "It's safe here?"

"It's not any different, but the stadium is here. The Crusaders fight to protect it with all their strength." Yuna said, a little happier. "Blitzball's really the only entertainment that we have. Spira's a little short on fun these days." She smiled. "Is Zanarkand like this, too?"

"Well, there are more buildings." Tidus told her. "All tall ones and cramped together."

Yuna sighed, dreaming about his city. "They must be so tall! Don't you ever get dizzy?" Tidus laughed, and informed her that you get used to it. She laughed, and added that they should continue to look for Auron.

The café was among the buildings. It was crowded, but thankfully, not out-of-control. A few people sat among the tables and chairs munching on meals and sipping drinks. Auron wasn't among them. Others stood at the bar, watching for the games to come on.

"I'll ask around." Yuna said. She walked over to some people dining. Tidus noticed Kimahri talking to two other Ronsos like him. But they were different. They were much taller, and he'd thought Kimahri was as tall as they could get. One was a bluish grey, and the other was deep royal blue. Both had long, pointy horns where Kimahri only had the broken stump.

"Why not talk, Kimahri? Not see Yenke for ten years! Say something!" The bluish-grey one, prseumably named Yenke shouted at Kimahri. "Kimahri forget Yenke? Forget Biran?"

"Leave Kimahri, Yenke. Kimahri is small Ronso." The darker blue one, presumably Biran growled to his companion. "Kimahri so small, can't see Yenke and Biran's faces."

They both howled with laughter, and a look of sheer rage had spread across Kimahri's animal-like face. "Kimahri forget Ronso friends? We taught you much at time of horn-molt!" Yenke said again. "Remember how Biran taught Kimahri to be strong Ronso?" he added.

Biran laughed. "Maybe taught too much." He lightly pushed Kimahri on his shoulder, who looked ready to kill.

"Take 'em one!" Tidus cheered. He wasn't about to stand there and let Kimahri get beat on. Yenke and Biran both chuckled at the smaller Ronso in front of them, which caused Kimahri to deliver a swift uppercut to Yenke's face. It made a loud smack, and Yenke fell backwards, groaning. The diners and people at the bar gasped at the ensuing fight. Biran looked at Kimahri threateningly.

"Take it outside! The tournament's starting, you hear?" The bartender ordered, pointing to a large screen above the bar. A veiwing of the tournament opening was on the screen. It showed Mika, standing on a balcony above the crowds gathered in the stadium. The captains of the six teams, Wakka among them, along with Seymour, stood nearby.

"Today, on this glorious day, players from all over Spira have assembled here to participate on this great contest of bravery, skill, and strength." Mika was saying. "All of these fine teams, equally renowned, deserve to win the cup today. Such is the nature of this contest. Let us, the spectators, play our role accordingly." Mika raised his hands up over the crowd. Let us sing to the glory of the winners, and applaud equally the valor of the defeated. Contestants...may Yevon be with you." There was a thunderous cheer, and with a bang, the sphere pool began to fill with water.

Tidus suddenly realized that he had to get back to the locker room, he didn't know when the Aurochs were going to be playing. He turned to look for Yuna, but she was no where in sight.

"Kimahri!" He called. "Yuna's gone!"

Kimahri looked frantic. Biran took this distraction to his advantage, and punched Kimahri in the face. Yenke was still half-concious on the floor, in a daze from Kimahri's punch. Kimahri stood, stunned for a moment, but then ran out the door. Tidus followed.

"Yuna!" Tidus called at the top of his lungs when they were outside of the café. Kimahri was looking around in a panic. Suddenly, a dark-clothed figure was pushing through the crowds. It was Lulu, frantic and out of breath, a piece of paper in her hand.

"Where in Spira have you been?" She demanded, shoving the paper into Tidus's hands. "Yuna's been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches. In exchange for her safe return, they want the Aurochs to lose."

Tidus looked at the paper. It appeared to be a ransom note. The handwriting was shaky, as though whoever wrote it wasn't too sure of what they were writing. And there were a lot of strange misspellings. He had to remind himself that the Al Bheds didn't speak much of their language.

"We have your summoner. We will not harm her if the Al Bhed team advances to the final round. If this does not happen, we will be forced to take her from here and put her where you will not find her." Tidus read from the note. "This doesn't make much sense."

"If they're only blitzball players, I doubt they'd do anything drastic. But we shouldn't take chances. Let's go get her." Lulu said, determined.


End file.
